Notes on the Modal verbs, when used to express assumptions / probabilites

Caveats: the following are by no means all the possible combinations of modals in various moods and tenses with various infinities. Quite a few other possibilities exist.

             The focus here is on the verb müssen, but other modals will act in similar ways.

The English translations are only suggestions, and are by no means the only correct way to express the German sentences in English.

On the worksheet, we had “Der Zug muß schon längst angekommen sein.” etc.

Expressing these distinctions in English translations may be confusing, because of ambiguities in the English modal system.

Let’s try to approach it logically.

1. Present indicative of modal + present infinitive of main verb:

In the present time (hence the present tense), and with a fair degree of certainty (hence the indicative), the speaker assumes something probably is happening or is about to happen.

Der Zug muß bald ankommen.

At the present moment, the speaker confidently assumes that the train is about to arrive, although there is perhaps a small degree of doubt, otherwise s/he would say Der Zug kommt bald an.

The train must be coming soon.

2. Present subjunctive of modal + present infinitive of main verb:

In the present time (hence the present tense), the speaker assumes something probably is happening or is about to happen, but there is a clear degree of doubt or uncertainty (hence the subjunctive).

Der Zug müßte bald ankommen.

At the present moment, the speaker assumes that the train is about to arrive, but maybe it is already a little late, or for some reason there is an element of uncertainty about it.

The train must be coming soon!

Note that 1 and 2 could be uttered on the platform, waiting for the train, although they could also be uttered elsewhere.

3. Present indicative of modal + perfect infinitive of main verb:

In the present time (hence the present tense), and with a fair degree of certainty (hence the indicative), the speaker assumes something probably happened in the past.

Der Zug muß schon längst angekommen sein.

At the present moment, the speaker assumes the train has arrived already some time ago. The speaker is reasonably confident about this assumption, and does not wish to express any particular doubt, although s/he does not know about the status of the train with certainty, otherwise s/he would say Der Zug ist schon längst angekommen.

The train must have arrived some time ago.

Note that 3 could not be uttered on the platform, because then the speaker would know and not have to wonder whether the train had arrived.

4. Present-time subjunctive of modal + perfect infinitive of main verb:

At the present moment (hence the present tense), but with a clear element of doubt (hence the subjunctive), the speaker expresses the idea that something could have or ought to have happened in the past, but may not have happened.

Der Zug müßte schon längst angekommen sein.

At the present moment, the speaker thinks that the train ought to have arrived, but is not certain whether it has done so.

The train must have arrived some time ago now!

Surely the train has arrived by now!

Note that 4 could not be uttered on the platform, because then the speaker would know and not have to wonder whether the train had arrived.

5. Past-time subjunctive of modal verb plus present infinitive of main verb:

At a moment in the past (hence the past-time form), the action could have / should have / ought to have happened or to have been happening, but had not happened or was not happening (hence the subjunctive).

Der Zug hätte schon längst ankommen müssen.

At a moment in the past, the train was supposed to arrive, but it did not.

The train should have arrived long ago (but hasn’t).

Note that 5 could be uttered anywhere, as long as the speaker knows that the train has not arrived.

6. Past-time subjunctive of modal verb plus perfect infinitive of main verb:

At a moment in the past (hence the past-time form), an action or event was supposed to (etc.) have already taken place, but had not (hence the subjunctive).

Der Zug hätte schon längst angekommen sein müssen.

At a moment in the past, the train was supposed to have arrived, but had not.

The train was supposed to have arrived long before.

Additional Notes on the Modal Verbs Worksheet

#10: He might have died, if he hadn’t been wearing his seat belt.

The modality that English expresses as “might have” is probably best expressed in German by a simple subjunctive: Er wäre vielleicht gestorben, wenn er sich nicht angeschnallt hätte.

Another possibility is Er hätte sterben können . . . . on the model of #5 above.

#18: He should have saved enough money by now. (meaning we think he probably has, but we aren’t sure). Note that in English we could also say He must have . . . To get the meaning needed here, we can translate along the lines of #3 above, as Er muss schon genug Geld gespart haben. Another possibility would be with a future perfect: Er wird wohl schon genug Geld gespart haben.

#19: He should have saved enough money by now. (meaning that he should have done so, but has not). This has two possible meanings in English – either he had a duty to save and didn’t, or he had the opportunity to save and didn’t. For the first meaning, the German would be Er soll (or sollte) schon genug Geld gespart haben. For the second, it would be er hätte schon genug Geld sparen sollen.