Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

When university assignments pile up, you need efficient ways to talk about your workload. Just as you can use *sein + zu + infinitive* to say what "is to be done" (e.g., *Das Skript ist zu lesen*), German allows you to condense this obligation into an adjective placed directly in front of the noun.

### The Gerundivum (Attributive Passive Obligation)

To describe a noun as "needing to be done," you can form a special adjective called the *Gerundivum*. It has a passive meaning, translating to "the [noun] that is to be [verbed]."

To form it, take the present participle of the verb (the infinitive plus **-d**, like **lesend**), place **zu** in front of it, and add the appropriate adjective ending (*lesen* becomes *zu lesend-*).

{{item:881717}}

{{item:881720}}

Because this form acts exactly like a normal adjective, it takes standard adjective endings based on gender, case, and number.

{{item:881732}}

Here is an example showing the gerundivum taking a plural genitive ending (**-en**):

{{item:881746}}

### Separable Verbs and Modifiers

If the verb has a separable prefix (like **vorbereiten**), the **zu** gets sandwiched between the prefix and the verb root. The entire gerundivum is written as a single word (**vorzubereitend-**).

{{item:881724}}

If the verb is modified by a separate word—such as an adverb describing *how* it should be done, or a standalone phrase like **auswendig** (by heart)—that modifier stays a separate word right in front of the gerundivum.

{{item:881728}}

{{item:881741}}

Obligation as an adjective (zu + present participle)

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 lecture notes	das Skript
The lecture notes that are to be read are lying on the desk.	Das zu lesende Skript liegt auf dem Schreibtisch.
As long as I am reading the lecture notes, you must not disturb me.	Solange ich das Skript lese, darfst du mich nicht stören.
the chapter	das Kapitel
The chapter that is to be translated is really long.	Das zu übersetzende Kapitel ist wirklich lang.
to compose	verfassen
She is writing the chapter while he reads the book.	Sie verfasst das Kapitel, während er das Buch liest.
the presentation (oral report, school/university)	das Referat
The presentation that is to be prepared costs us a lot of time.	Das vorzubereitende Referat kostet uns viel Zeit.
If only I didn't have this presentation!	Hätte ich dieses Referat nur nicht!
to correct	korrigieren
Who has the exam that is to be corrected?	Wer hat die zu korrigierende Klausur?
It is an easily correctable mistake.	Es ist ein einfach zu korrigierender Fehler.
the pile	der Stapel
I am putting the pile on the desk.	Ich lege den Stapel auf den Schreibtisch.
The article that is to be read is important.	Der zu lesende Artikel ist wichtig.
The text that is to be composed must be perfect.	Der zu verfassende Text muss perfekt sein.
You can go ahead and write the text tomorrow.	Du kannst den Text ruhig morgen verfassen.
to cite	zitieren
The source that is to be cited is very old.	Die zu zitierende Quelle ist sehr alt.
You must cite all sources, otherwise you will fail.	Du musst alle Quellen zitieren, sonst fällst du durch.
to grade	bewerten
I need time for the exam that is to be graded.	Ich brauche Zeit für die zu bewertende Prüfung.
We grade the tasks during the lecture.	Wir bewerten die Aufgaben während der Vorlesung.
by heart	auswendig
The poem that is to be learned by heart is short.	Das auswendig zu lernende Gedicht ist kurz.
He is learning the vocabulary by heart.	Er lernt die Vokabeln auswendig.
the research	die Recherche
The research that is to be done takes a long time.	Die zu erledigende Recherche dauert lange.
He isn't doing the research, but rather sleeping.	Er macht nicht die Recherche, sondern schläft.
The stack of books to be read is huge.	Der Stapel der zu lesenden Bücher ist riesig.
necessary	nötig
A repair is unfortunately necessary.	Eine Reparatur ist leider nötig.
More is not necessary at the moment.	Mehr ist im Moment nicht nötig.

Contributors