Formsollen (Position 2 im Aussagesatz) … Infinitiv (Ende)
Meaning and usage
sollen means that someone else expects or instructs something. You use it for rules, advice and tasks that come from another person, and in questions like Soll ich ...? you ask what someone wants you to do. In a statement the form of sollen stands in second position and the real verb goes to the end as an infinitive: Du sollst solche Fragen nicht stellen. In a yes/no question the verb moves to first position: Soll ich die Tür schließen?
The past forms with hätte plus sollen express a missed duty: Du hättest kommen sollen. A common mistake is to put the second verb in its normal form in the middle of the sentence, as in Du sollst nicht stellst solche Fragen, instead of the infinitive at the end.
Examples 5
Du sollst solche Fragen doch nicht stellen!
You're not supposed to ask those kinds of questions.
Was soll ich den Kindern jetzt sagen?
What should I tell the kids now?
Solche Fragen sollst du doch nicht stellen!
You're not supposed to ask those kinds of questions.
Das hättet ihr mir früher sagen sollen.
You should've told me earlier.
Sie hätten sich bei uns melden sollen.
They should've contacted us.
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
Soll ich die Tür ?
Show answer
Correct answer: schließen
In a yes/no question with sollen, the real verb stands at the end as an infinitive. schließen is the infinitive of the action that the other person may want.
- geschlossen This is a past participle, which needs haben or sein and does not follow a modal verb in this pattern.
- schloss This is the simple past form, which cannot stand after a modal verb in this pattern.
- schließt This is the finite form for du or er, but the subject here is ich and the verb must be an infinitive.
In this topic: Modal verbs
- Modalverb + … + Infinitiv modal verb second, main verb at the end
- ich kann, er kann ich and er forms of können: no ending, no umlaut
- können can, be able to, know how to
- müssen must, have to
- wollen want to
- möchte would like, polite way to say what you want
- dürfen may, be allowed to; asking permission
- sollen should, be supposed to, someone else's instruction
- mögen to like, mostly with a noun
- Verb + gern like doing something
- nicht müssen, nicht dürfen not have to vs must not
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.