GermanFluent

A1 · Modal verbs

mögen

to like, mostly with a noun

FormSubjekt + mögen (Position 2) + Nomen (Akkusativ)

Meaning and usage

mögen means to like. You use it with a noun or a pronoun: Ich mag Kaffee, Er mag Tiere. The verb takes second position and changes its form: ich mag, du magst, er mag, wir mögen, ihr mögt, sie mögen. The thing you like is in the accusative case.

For activities, German usually prefers gern with another verb: Ich trinke gern Kaffee. A sentence like Ich mag Kaffee trinken is possible, but it sounds less natural in everyday speech. Learners often forget the accusative or use the wrong verb form, for example Ich mag Kaffee nicht is fine, but Ich nicht mag Kaffee is not German.

Examples 5

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Meine Schwester Schokolade sehr.

    Show answer

    Correct answer: mag

    The subject Meine Schwester is third person singular, so the verb must be mag. möchtest and magst are second person forms, and mögen is used with plural subjects.

    • möchtest is the second person singular of möchten, which does not fit the third person subject.
    • mögen is the first or third person plural form, used with wir or sie.
    • magst is the second person singular of mögen, used with du.

In this topic: Modal verbs

  1. Modalverb + … + Infinitiv modal verb second, main verb at the end
  2. ich kann, er kann ich and er forms of können: no ending, no umlaut
  3. können can, be able to, know how to
  4. müssen must, have to
  5. wollen want to
  6. möchte would like, polite way to say what you want
  7. dürfen may, be allowed to; asking permission
  8. sollen should, be supposed to, someone else's instruction
  9. mögen to like, mostly with a noun
  10. Verb + gern like doing something
  11. nicht müssen, nicht dürfen not have to vs must not

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.