Word
Wir sollten das Projekt machen, also mussten wir zusammen arbeiten.
Meaning
We were supposed to do the project, so we had to work together.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Wir sollten das Projekt machen, also mussten wir zusammen arbeiten.
machen
to make, to do
arbeiten
to work
wir
we
zusammen
together
Questions & Answers about Wir sollten das Projekt machen, also mussten wir zusammen arbeiten.
Why does the second part of the sentence say mussten wir instead of wir mussten?
The word also is an adverb meaning "so" or "therefore". Because it takes up the first position in that new clause (part of the sentence), the conjugated verb mussten must come in the second position. This pushes the subject wir into the third position.
Is also a false friend here?
Yes, it is! In German, also means "so", "therefore", or "thus". It does not mean the same thing as the English word "also". If you want to say "also" as in "too" or "as well", you should use the German word auch.
How do the modal verbs change to the simple past tense here?
To form the simple past (Präteritum) of modal verbs, you add a -t- before the personal ending, similar to the "-ed" ending in English. So sollen becomes sollten (we were supposed to). When müssen becomes mussten (we had to), notice that it also loses its umlaut!
I've learned that sollten means "should". Why does it mean "were supposed to" in this sentence?
The form sollten is used both for the simple past ("were supposed to") and for giving advice ("should"). Because the second half of this sentence is clearly in the past tense (mussten, meaning "had to"), context tells us that sollten is also talking about a past event here.