Welcome to this deck on German modal verbs. Modal verbs are special 'helping' verbs that modify another verb in a sentence. They express ideas like ability, permission, necessity, or desire. In this deck, we will learn the six main modal verbs: können, müssen, dürfen, sollen, wollen, and mögen, focusing on how to use them in the present tense.

A key feature of most modal verbs is that the 'ich' form, meaning 'I', and the 'er, sie, es' form, meaning 'he, she, it', are identical. You'll also notice that the vowel often changes in the singular forms compared to the infinitive. Let's start with the verb for 'can' or 'to be able to'.

The first modal verb is 'können', which means 'to be able to' or 'can'. For example, 'Ich kann Deutsch sprechen' means 'I can speak German'. Notice how the vowel changes from 'ö' in 'können' to 'a' in the singular forms.