While theoretically there are words like: das Können (the ability), das Muss (the must), das Wollen (the wanting) etc. those are rather rarely actively used by Germans and YOU will very likely never have the pleasure to make use of them either. That’s mainly because it’s far more elegant to circumscribe them as I’ll show below But before you read on, do a little exercise that will help you internalize the following information: Write down all possible variants of the following sentences in your native language:
I have to go to the toilet.
The point is to find alternatives for “have to” and not for the toilet please. They don’t have to be 100% accurate as you’ll see in a minute by looking at my examples. I can think of:
- I must go to the toilet.
- I am forced to go to the toilet.
- I’m obliged to go to the toilet.
- I have no choice but to go to the toilet
continue…
You can apply the same for the other modal verbs: can, may, want, should, like
Now take a look at a few alternatives for these verbs in German:
- Alternatives to “müssen”
die Notwendigkeit = the necessity
der Zwang = the force
gezwungen sein = to be forced
die Pflicht = the obligation
verpflichtet sein = to be obliged - Alternatives to “können”
die Möglichkeit = the possibility
es ist möglich = it is possible
die Fähigkeit = the ability
fähig sein zu
die Erlaubnis = the permission
es ist erlaubt zu = it is permitted - Alternatives to “dürfen”
das Recht = the right
die Erlaubnis = the permission - Alternatives “nicht dürfen”
es ist (notwendig) = it is necessary
die Notwendigkeit = the necessity
es ist verboten zu = it is forbidden
das Verbot = the ban - Alternatives to “wollen”
das Verlangen = the desire
der Plan = the plan
planen = to plan
die Absicht = the intention
beabsichtigen = to intend - Alternatives to “sollen”
if used in the sense of a soft “müssen” use the alternatives of “müssen”
in the sense of recommendation:
die Empfehlung = the recommendation
empfehlen = to recommend
This topic is covered in: C1-L08