can-may-must

Exercises:

• Put the modal verbs into the tenses I
• Put the modal verbs into the tenses II

Test yourself

can-may-must - Test yourself

Basic Rules

can, may, must sind Hilfsverben!

Das bedeutet:

• kein -s in der 3. Person Singular
• keine Umschreibung mit "to do" in Fragen und verneinten Sätzen notwendig (Can you help me? ABER Do you like me?)

Man kann mit can, may must nicht alle Zeiten bilden!

Ersatzformen:

• can ==> to be able to, ==> we were able to
• must ==> to have to ==> they had to do their homework
• may ==> to be allowed to ==> I was allowed to stay up.

Erlaubnis/Verbot = permission (dürfen/nicht dürfen)

• can / cannot ==> You cannot go to the party
• may / may not ==> we may not be loud ==> we were not allowed to be loud
• must not ==> you must not Du DARFST nicht (Nur in Gegenwart!) ==> Past Tense: You were not allowed to ....!

Fähigkeit = ability (können/nicht können)

• can / cannot ==> I cannot sing ==> I wasn't able to sing. / They weren't able to sing.

Verplichtung = obligation (müssen/nicht müssen)

• must ==> You must go. ==> You had to go.

Achtung: You must not heißt: Du darfst nicht!

Deswegen:
Du musst nicht gehen. ==> you needn't go. (Ersatzform für andere Zeiten: don't have to.
Deswegen
Du musstest nicht/brauchtest nicht zu gehen! ==> You didn't have o go.