Sollen ("should / to be supposed to") is the modal of external authority: someone else's will, expectation, or command imposed on the subject. That outside source can be a person ("the boss says..."), a moral norm ("one ought to..."), or even a rumour the speaker is merely passing on. This last use — Er soll reich sein ("he's said to be rich") — is hearsay, and it has no neat English equivalent, which is exactly why sollen repays careful study. Among the modals it is the odd one out: it has no vowel change at all, and its Konjunktiv II is identical to its Präteritum (sollte, no umlaut).
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Präteritum | Partizip II (auxiliary) |
|---|---|---|
| sollen | sollte | gesollt / sollen (haben) |
Read this as sollen – sollte – hat gesollt. There is no umlaut anywhere in the paradigm — the stem stays soll- throughout. The Perfekt auxiliary is haben, with two participles: gesollt (standalone) and the infinitive sollen (double infinitive).
Präsens (present)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | soll |
| du | sollst |
| er / sie / es | soll |
| wir | sollen |
| ihr | sollt |
| sie / Sie | sollen |
Unlike kann/muss/darf, the singular vowel does not change — it stays o everywhere (soll, sollst, soll). The modal hallmark still holds: ich and er are identical and take no ending (ich soll, er soll, never er sollt, which is the ihr-form).
Ich soll dich von Anna grüßen.
Anna says hi (lit. I'm supposed to greet you from Anna). (relaying someone's instruction)
Was soll ich jetzt machen?
What am I supposed to do now? (asking for direction)
Du sollst nicht lügen.
You shall not lie. (moral norm; biblical register)
Präteritum (simple past)
The spoken past is sollte (stem soll- + weak -te).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | sollte |
| du | solltest |
| er / sie / es | sollte |
| wir | sollten |
| ihr | solltet |
| sie / Sie | sollten |
Because there is no umlaut, sollte does double duty: it is both the Präteritum ("was supposed to") and the Konjunktiv II ("should"). Context decides which.
Ich sollte ihn um drei abholen, aber er war nicht da.
I was supposed to pick him up at three, but he wasn't there. (Präteritum: a planned obligation that fell through)
Perfekt (present perfect)
With haben, two shapes:
- Standalone (no second verb): participle gesollt — Das hätte nicht sein gesollt style is rare; everyday standalone is e.g. Was habe ich denn gesollt? ("What was I supposed to do?").
- With a second verb: a double infinitive — main verb's infinitive + sollen: Ich habe es machen sollen ("I was supposed to do it").
| Person | Standalone | Double infinitive (+ main verb) |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe gesollt | habe ... machen sollen |
| du | hast gesollt | hast ... machen sollen |
| er / sie / es | hat gesollt | hat ... machen sollen |
| wir | haben gesollt | haben ... machen sollen |
| ihr | habt gesollt | habt ... machen sollen |
| sie / Sie | haben gesollt | haben ... machen sollen |
Eigentlich habe ich den Termin absagen sollen, aber ich habe es vergessen.
I was actually supposed to cancel the appointment, but I forgot. (double infinitive: absagen sollen)
In speech the Präteritum sollte usually replaces this Perfekt. See modals in the Perfekt and the double infinitive.
Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)
Past form of haben (hatte) + the two shapes.
| Person | Standalone | Double infinitive |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte gesollt | hatte ... machen sollen |
| er / sie / es | hatte gesollt | hatte ... machen sollen |
| wir | hatten gesollt | hatten ... machen sollen |
Sie hatte den Bericht längst abgeben sollen.
She was supposed to have handed in the report long ago.
Futur I (future)
werden + the bare infinitive sollen.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | werde sollen |
| du | wirst sollen |
| er / sie / es | wird sollen |
| wir | werden sollen |
| ihr | werdet sollen |
| sie / Sie | werden sollen |
The Futur I of sollen is rare in practice; the present already carries future-tinted obligation.
Niemand wird dir vorschreiben sollen, wie du zu leben hast.
No one shall dictate to you how you must live. (elevated/literary)
Imperativ
Like all modals, sollen has no imperative.
Konjunktiv II (should / advice)
Here is the quirk: because sollen has no umlaut, the Konjunktiv II is identical to the Präteritum — sollte. It is the everyday way to give advice or a recommendation ("you should...").
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | sollte |
| du | solltest |
| er / sie / es | sollte |
| wir | sollten |
| ihr | solltet |
| sie / Sie | sollten |
Du solltest wirklich mal zum Arzt gehen.
You should really go to the doctor. (advice; Konjunktiv II)
Wir sollten uns bald wieder treffen.
We should meet up again soon. (gentle suggestion)
See objective vs. subjective modal use for how sollte shifts between real past and advice.
Konjunktiv I (reported speech)
Used in formal reported speech; base is solle.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | solle |
| du | sollest |
| er / sie / es | solle |
| wir | sollen |
| ihr | sollet |
| sie / Sie | sollen |
Der Arzt sagte, ich solle mich schonen.
The doctor said I should take it easy. (Konjunktiv I, formal reported speech)
The three meanings of sollen
| Meaning | Source of the "should" | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Obligation / instruction | another person's will | Ich soll pünktlich sein. (I'm supposed to be on time.) |
| Advice / recommendation (Konj. II) | the speaker's judgement | Du solltest mehr schlafen. (You should sleep more.) |
| Hearsay (subjective) | a rumour the speaker reports | Er soll reich sein. (He's said to be rich.) |
The hearsay use is the one with no clean English match. Sie soll sehr nett sein means "she's supposed to be / reportedly very nice" — the speaker is relaying a claim, not their own knowledge, and takes no responsibility for its truth. English needs a whole phrase ("apparently", "they say", "is said to") to do what one German modal does. For reporting others' words generally, see reported speech overview.
Das neue Restaurant soll richtig gut sein.
The new restaurant is supposed to be really good (so I've heard). (hearsay sollen)
There is also the deliberative use in questions: Soll ich das Fenster aufmachen? ("Shall I open the window?") — offering to act on someone's behalf.
Soll ich dir helfen?
Shall I help you? / Do you want me to help? (offer)
Common idioms and fixed expressions
| Expression | English |
|---|---|
| Was soll das (heißen)? | What's that supposed to mean? / What's going on? |
| Was soll's. | Whatever / so what / never mind. |
| Soll sein. | Fine, so be it. |
| Das hat nicht sein sollen. | It wasn't meant to be. |
| Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben. | Don't count your chickens before they hatch. (proverb) |
Was soll das denn jetzt heißen?
And what exactly is that supposed to mean? (indignant; idiom with sollen)
Common Mistakes
❌ Du sollst mehr Sport machen.
Intended as friendly advice, but too commanding — present soll = an instruction/order. For advice use the Konjunktiv II solltest.
✅ Du solltest mehr Sport machen.
You should do more exercise.
❌ Er söllte reich sein.
Trying to form a Konjunktiv with an umlaut — incorrect: sollen has no umlaut anywhere; the Konjunktiv II is sollte, identical to the Präteritum.
✅ Er soll reich sein.
He's said to be rich. (hearsay — present sollen)
❌ Er sollt das machen.
Incorrect — the er-form is soll (no ending); sollt is the ihr-form.
✅ Er soll das machen.
He's supposed to do that.
❌ Ich soll zu gehen.
Incorrect — modals take a bare infinitive, never zu.
✅ Ich soll gehen.
I'm supposed to go.
❌ Ich habe das machen gesollt.
Incorrect — with a second verb the Perfekt needs the double infinitive in the order main-verb + modal: machen sollen.
✅ Ich habe das machen sollen.
I was supposed to do that.
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: sollen – sollte – hat gesollt (Perfekt with haben).
- No vowel change anywhere — the stem stays soll-; ich = er, no ending.
- sollte = both Präteritum ("was supposed to") and Konjunktiv II ("should"); no umlaut distinguishes them, so context decides.
- Three meanings: obligation/instruction, advice (Konjunktiv II solltest), and hearsay (Er soll reich sein = "he's said to be rich").
- The hearsay use has no one-word English match — it reports a claim the speaker doesn't vouch for.
- With a second verb the Perfekt uses the double infinitive; modals take a bare infinitive and have no imperative.
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
- sollen: Obligation, Advice, and HearsayB1 — How to use sollen for external obligation, the sollte form for advice, and the distinctive hearsay reading (Er soll reich sein = 'he's said to be rich').
- Modal Verbs: OverviewA2 — The six German modal verbs, their shared word order, and the irregular present tense that makes ich and er identical.
- Objective vs Subjective Use of ModalsC1 — How the same modal verb carries two layers — real ability/obligation (objective) and the speaker's inference or hearsay (subjective/epistemic).
- Modals in the Perfekt and Subordinate ClausesB2 — Why modals prefer the Präteritum in speech, how the double infinitive (Ersatzinfinitiv) works, when the participle gekonnt/gemusst appears, and how subordinate clauses front the auxiliary.
- Reported Speech: OverviewB2 — How German reports what someone said — the colloquial dass + indicative form versus the formal Konjunktiv I, the pronoun shift, and the core insight that German reports by mood, not by tense backshift.
- müssen: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of the modal verb müssen 'must / to have to', the double-infinitive Perfekt, and the crucial trap that 'nicht müssen' means 'needn't' — not 'must not'.