KS3 · German · Year 8
Who should do what? Meanings of 'sollen', 'müssen', 'dürfen'
Making plans: present and future tenses
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/10
Your learning goal
I can use 'sollen' to say who should do what and to express probability, and apply my knowledge of language to link unfamiliar vocabulary to word families.
1 of 10
Who should do what? Meanings of 'sollen', 'müssen', 'dürfen': slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can use 'sollen' to say who should do what and to express probability, and apply my knowledge of language to link unfamiliar vocabulary to word families.
Key learning points
- Pronounce both letters in the sound-symbol correspondence [pf] in German.
- The English spelling 'p' often corresponds to [pf] in German.
- Use your existing knowledge of language to understand meanings of unfamiliar words and to identify word families.
- Use the modal verb 'sollen' to mean ‘should', 'be supposed to’ in expectations or obligations, and for probability.
- Use the modal verb 'müssen' to mean ‘must’ and the modal verb 'dürfen' to mean ‘may', 'allowed’.
Words to know
- [pf]
- pronounced as in 'Apfel', 'Pferd'
- modal verb
- verb of necessity or possibility ('must', 'can', 'want') used with a 2nd verb in infinitive, which goes to the end
- sollen
- modal verb meaning 'should', 'be supposed to', 'ought to'
Common mistakes
Always use 'müssen' in negative sentences to translate the idea of 'must not' in English.
English often uses 'must not' in lieu of 'don't have to', 'not allowed to' and 'should not'. However, you should use the correct modal verb in German to express these ideas, e.g. 'du musst nicht', 'du darfst nicht', 'du sollst nicht'.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Focus on the cross-linguistic differences between the translation of 'must not' by using mini-whiteboard activities to support the checks for understanding in learning cycle 3.