nicht d\u00fcrfen<\/strong><\/td>\nto not be allowed to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nHow to Use \u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d<\/h2>\nBefore you start learning the specifics of m\u00fcssen conjugation, it\u2019s important to know how Germans use this verb. I\u2019ve mentioned already that m\u00fcssen<\/em> is a modal verb. But what does that mean?<\/p>\nSimply put, modal verbs are verbs that are used together with other verbs. M\u00fcssen <\/em>doesn\u2019t carry a lot of meaning on its own \u2013 it\u2019s there to indicate that someone has an obligation to do something.<\/p>\nTake a look at the following sentence, for example:<\/p>\n \n- Ich lese ein Buch. <\/strong>\u2013 I am reading a book.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
From this sentence, all you know is that someone is reading a book \u2013 that\u2019s all. But if you add m\u00fcssen<\/em> to the mix, the sentence changes its meaning somewhat and gives you more information about what might be happening.<\/p>\n\n- Ich muss ein Buch lesen. <\/strong>\u2013 I have to read a book. (Because my teacher told me to.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In this case, lesen <\/em>(= to read) is a lexical verb \u2013 it carries the meaning. M\u00fcssen <\/em>is a modal verb \u2013 it\u2019s there to indicate modality. Lexical verbs can be used on their own, but modal verbs are always accompanied by another verb.<\/p>\nNow, let\u2019s get into the details of m\u00fcssen <\/em>conjugation.<\/p>\n\u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d Conjugation in Present Tense (Pr\u00e4sens)<\/h2>\nThe reason why some may find the m\u00fcssen<\/em> conjugation a little bit tricky is that, much like all the other modal verbs, m\u00fcssen is an irregular verb. This means that it doesn\u2019t follow the usual conjugation patterns that you may be used to. Unfortunately, to be able to conjugate m\u00fcssen correctly, you will have to memorize the following forms.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s start with the present tense.<\/p>\n Singular<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nich mu<\/strong>ss<\/td>\n| I must \/ have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \ndu mu<\/strong>sst<\/td>\n| you must \/ have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \ner\/sie\/es mu<\/strong>ss<\/td>\n| he\/she\/it must \/ has to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n There are two things to note here: First, notice how in singular present tense, the vowel \u201c\u00fc\u201d changes to \u201cu.\u201d Second, the first and third person both don\u2019t have their usual, regular endings. Saying \u201cich musse\u201d or \u201cich m\u00fcsse\u201d would be wrong \u2013 the correct way to do m\u00fcssen <\/em>conjugation is to say \u201cich muss.\u201d The same goes for \u201cer muss\u201d \u2013 never say \u201cer musst\u201d or \u201cer m\u00fcsst.\u201d<\/p>\nPlural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| wir m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | we must \/ have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| ihr m\u00fcsst<\/td>\n | you must \/ have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| sie\/Sie m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | they\/you must \/ have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Luckily, the plural present tense forms of m\u00fcssen<\/em> are all regular. There\u2019s nothing to stress over here!<\/p>\nExamples:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Ihr m\u00fcsst im Voraus zahlen. <\/strong>(You have to pay in advance.)<\/li>\n
- Wir m\u00fcssen hier warten. <\/strong>(We have to wait here.)<\/li>\n
- Ich muss zum Arzt gehen. <\/strong>(I have to go to the doctor).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d Conjugation in Simple Past Tense (Pr\u00e4teritum)<\/h2>\nIf you\u2019ve learned about the simple past tense form (or Pr\u00e4teritum) before, you may know that, in general, Germans use this tense in written rather than spoken form in German. In spoken German, it\u2019s often preferred to use the present perfect tense (or Perfekt) when talking about the past.<\/p>\n However, this is a little bit different when it comes to the m\u00fcssen <\/em>conjugation.<\/p>\nIt is much more common to use Pr\u00e4teritum instead of Perfekt with modal verbs such as m\u00fcssen<\/em>. We will still cover both forms, but keep in mind that the simple past tense is what you will usually come across with m\u00fcssen<\/em>.<\/p>\nSingular<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nich mu<\/strong>sste<\/td>\n| I had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \ndu mu<\/strong>sstest<\/td>\n| you had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \ner\/sie\/es mu<\/strong>sste<\/td>\n| he\/she\/it had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Plural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nwir mu<\/strong>ssten<\/td>\n| we had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nihr mu<\/strong>sstet<\/td>\n| you had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nsie\/Sie mu<\/strong>ssten<\/td>\n| they\/you had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Again, pay attention to how the vowel \u201c\u00fc\u201d changes to \u201cu\u201d in Pr\u00e4teritum<\/em>.<\/p>\nExamples:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Ich musste drau\u00dfen gehen. <\/strong>(I had to go outside.)<\/li>\n
- Sie mussten nicht kommen. <\/strong>(You did not have to come.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d Conjugation in Present Perfect Tense (Perfekt)<\/h2>\nThe m\u00fcssen <\/em>conjugation gets a little bit tricky in the present perfect tense. I\u2019ll explain why \u2013 but first, let\u2019s take a look at the forms:<\/p>\nSingular<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| ich habe gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | I had to \/ have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| du hast gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you had to \/ have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| er\/sie\/es hat gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | he\/she\/it had to \/ have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Plural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| wir haben gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | we had to \/ have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| ihr habt gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you had to \/ have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| sie\/Sie haben gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | they\/you had to \/ have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n As you may have noticed, there are a couple of options when it comes to the m\u00fcssen<\/em> conjugation in Perfekt<\/em>.<\/p>\nIn general, the present perfect consists of two parts \u2013 a helping (auxiliary) verb and the past participle of the verb you\u2019re conjugating.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n \n- ich habe gesagt<\/strong> (I said \/ have said)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Naturally, you may therefore think that the correct form of m\u00fcssen in the present perfect tense would be \u201cich habe gemusst.\u201d However, this is only the case if you\u2019re using m\u00fcssen as a lexical verb. In practice, this almost never happens. In most cases, you will only see m\u00fcssen<\/em> used as a modal verb, in which case, the correct conjugation will look different.<\/p>\nWhen using m\u00fcssen<\/em> as a modal verb, you do not need to use the past participle of the verb (i.e., gemusst). Instead, use the infinitive form of m\u00fcssen <\/em>(i.e., m\u00fcssen<\/em>).<\/p>\nThis infinitive form, which is used in all perfect tenses (including the past perfect and the future perfect), is called \u201cErsatzinfinitiv\u201d (substitute infinitive), and it sounds much more natural to native German speakers.<\/p>\n Here are some example sentences<\/strong> to show you how to use m\u00fcssen <\/em>correctly in this tense:<\/p>\n\n- Wir haben das Buch lesen m\u00fcssen. <\/strong>(We had to read the book.)<\/li>\n
- Du hast warten m\u00fcssen.<\/strong> (You had to wait.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Note: <\/strong>Notice the word order of the above example sentences. The verb m\u00fcssen <\/em>always goes to the very end of the sentence \u2013 it comes after the lexical verb.<\/p>\n\u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d Conjugation in Past Perfect Tense (Plusquamperfekt)<\/h2>\nMuch like in the present perfect tense, you will mostly come across the past perfect tense with the \u201cErsatzinfinitiv\u201d \u2013 i.e., instead of using \u201cgemusst,\u201d German speakers will use \u201cm\u00fcssen.\u201d This is always the case if you\u2019re using m\u00fcssen <\/em>as a modal verb.<\/p>\nHere is what the m\u00fcssen <\/em>conjugation looks like in Plusquamperfekt<\/em>:<\/p>\nSingular<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| ich hatte gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | I had had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| du hattest gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you had had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| er\/sie\/es hatte gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | he\/she\/it had had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Plural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| wir hatten gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | we had had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| ihr hattet gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you had had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| sie\/Sie hatten gemusst\/m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | they\/you had had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Er hatte in die Kirche gehen m\u00fcssen. <\/strong>(He had had to go to church.)<\/li>\n
- Sie hatten nicht mitkommen m\u00fcssen. <\/strong>(They hadn\u2019t had to come along.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d Conjugation in Future Tense (Futur I)<\/h2>\nWhen it comes to the m\u00fcssen conjugation in the future tense, it\u2019s all relatively simple. All you need to know is how to conjugate the German auxiliary verb werden<\/a>. Other than that, you just need the infinitive form of m\u00fcssen<\/em>, and you\u2019re good to go!<\/p>\nSingular<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| ich werde m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | I will have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| du wirst m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you will have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| er\/sie\/es wird m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | he\/she\/it will have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Plural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| wir werden m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | we will have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| ihr werdet m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you will have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| sie\/Sie werden m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | they\/you will have to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Sie wird zum Zahnarzt gehen m\u00fcssen. <\/strong>(She will have to go to the dentist.)<\/li>\n
- Du wirst ihn zur\u00fcckrufen m\u00fcssen.<\/strong> (You will have to call him back.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Note: <\/strong>Notice how m\u00fcssen <\/em>goes right to the end of the sentence. This is always the case with sentence structures like these \u2013 the modal verb comes after the lexical verb.<\/p>\n\u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d Conjugation in Future Perfect Tense (Futur II)<\/h2>\nLast, but not least, we have the future perfect tense. This tense isn\u2019t used very often in German, but to fully master the m\u00fcssen <\/em>conjugation, you should be aware of it.<\/p>\nDon\u2019t worry if you find this a little bit overwhelming! Even native German speakers sometimes struggle with complex structures like these.<\/p>\n Singular<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| ich werde gemusst haben\/haben m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | I will have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| du wirst gemusst haben\/haben m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you will have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| er\/sie\/es wird gemusst haben\/haben m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | he\/she\/it will have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Plural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n| wir werden gemusst haben\/haben m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | we will have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| ihr werdet gemusst haben\/haben m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | you will have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| sie\/Sie werden gemusst haben\/haben m\u00fcssen<\/td>\n | they\/you will have had to<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Much like with the other perfect forms, you have two options in Futur II<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n- If you\u2019re using m\u00fcssen <\/em>as a lexical verb, use the past participle form (e.g., \u201cich werde gemusst haben\u201d). You are unlikely to use or see this.<\/li>\n
- If you\u2019re using m\u00fcssen <\/em>as a modal verb, use the \u201cErsatzinfinitiv.\u201d For example: \u201cich werde (gehen) haben m\u00fcssen.\u201d As m\u00fcssen <\/em>is mainly used as a modal verb, this is the form you will come across in most cases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Sie wird in die Schule gehen haben m\u00fcssen. <\/strong>(She will have had to go to school.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Other Forms of \u201cM\u00fcssen\u201d<\/h2>\nThat\u2019s almost it for the m\u00fcssen <\/em>conjugation! There are only a couple more forms that you should be aware of. These are:<\/p>\nPresent Participle (Partizip I)<\/h3>\nThe present participle of m\u00fcssen <\/em>is \u201cm\u00fcssend\u201d (= having to).<\/p>\nImportant: <\/strong>The German present participle is different from the English one. Germans mainly use the present participle as an adjective \u2013 never as a verb. \u201cI am speaking\u201d in German is \u201cIch spreche,\u201d never \u201cIch bin sprechend.\u201d<\/p>\n | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/headway-5QgIuuBxKwM-unsplash-scaled.jpg\")
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