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### Making Assumptions with "wohl"

When waiting for someone who is late—like a guest of honor to their own surprise party—you naturally start to guess what might have happened. In English, we usually say "He is *probably* late" or "I *assume* he is sleeping."

In German, you can easily express this high probability in the present tense by slipping in the small modal particle **wohl**.

While German does have a way to express assumptions using the future tense, adding **wohl** to a standard present tense sentence is often the most natural and concise way to say "probably." Like other modal particles, **wohl** usually sits in the middle of the sentence, safely after the conjugated verb and any pronouns.

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You can use **wohl** to contrast what you know to be true with what you assume is happening right now.

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### "wohl" with Separable Verbs

When making assumptions using a separable verb, the sentence structure behaves exactly as you would expect: the particle **wohl** stays in the middle of the sentence, while the separable prefix gets kicked all the way to the very end.

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Assumptions (wohl)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the guest of honor	der Ehrengast
The guest of honor is probably still sleeping.	Der Ehrengast schläft wohl immer noch.
to be delayed	sich verspäten
This guy is probably delayed again.	Dieser Typ verspätet sich wohl wieder.
He is usually on time, but today he is probably delayed.	Er ist meistens pünktlich, aber heute verspätet er sich wohl.
the punctuality	die Pünktlichkeit
the detour (longer way / indirect route)	der Umweg
Punctuality is important, but he is probably taking a detour.	Pünktlichkeit ist wichtig, aber er fährt wohl einen Umweg.
the balloon	der Luftballon
The boss is probably bringing the balloons now.	Der Chef bringt jetzt wohl die Luftballons mit.
Some hungry guests are probably already eating the cake.	Einige hungrige Gäste essen wohl schon die Torte.
to let slip	ausplaudern
the impatience	die Ungeduld
Many young children are probably letting the secret slip out of impatience.	Viele junge Kinder plaudern das Geheimnis wohl aus Ungeduld aus.
Someone is probably letting the surprise slip right away.	Jemand plaudert wohl gleich die Überraschung aus.
to suspect (to sense / have a hunch)	ahnen
The guest of honor probably suspects nothing of the party.	Der Ehrengast ahnt wohl nichts von der Party.
He probably suspects nothing and is simply arriving late.	Er ahnt wohl nichts und kommt einfach zu spät.
to toast	anstoßen
We are probably toasting as soon as the guest of honor arrives.	Wir stoßen wohl an, sobald der Ehrengast ankommt.
to hold up	aufhalten
The boss is probably holding the guest of honor up in the office.	Der Chef hält den Ehrengast wohl im Büro auf.
A stupid detour is probably holding him up.	Ein dummer Umweg hält ihn wohl auf.
The guest of honor is probably forgetting punctuality, and the impatience is growing.	Der Ehrengast vergisst wohl die Pünktlichkeit und die Ungeduld wächst.
He probably suspects the surprise, so we hide the balloon and do not toast.	Er ahnt wohl die Überraschung, also verstecken wir den Luftballon und stoßen nicht an.
hopefully	hoffentlich
Hopefully it will not rain tomorrow.	Hoffentlich regnet es morgen nicht.
Hopefully the train will arrive on time.	Der Zug kommt hoffentlich pünktlich an.

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