Word
Die Tapete muss heute gekauft werden, weil das Zimmer tapeziert werden soll.
Meaning
The wallpaper has to be bought today because the room is supposed to be wallpapered.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Die Tapete muss heute gekauft werden, weil das Zimmer tapeziert werden soll.
kaufen
to buy
heute
today
das Zimmer
the room
müssen
to have to, must
Questions & Answers about Die Tapete muss heute gekauft werden, weil das Zimmer tapeziert werden soll.
How is the passive voice structured with a modal verb in the first part of the sentence?
When combining the passive voice with a modal verb, you conjugate the modal verb (muss) in the normal second position. The actual action goes to the end of the clause as a past participle (gekauft), immediately followed by the infinitive werden. Think of it literally as: "The wallpaper must today bought be."
Why are there three verbs stacked at the end of the sentence (tapeziert werden soll), and why is "soll" last?
The word weil (because) is a subordinating conjunction, which forces the conjugated verb to the very end of the clause. In a normal main clause, it would be das Zimmer soll tapeziert werden. Because of weil, the conjugated modal verb soll gets kicked to the end, landing right after the passive block (tapeziert werden).
Why is the past participle "tapeziert" missing the usual "ge-" prefix?
Verbs that end in -ieren, such as tapezieren (to wallpaper), studieren (to study), or fotografieren (to photograph), never take a ge- prefix in the past participle. You just use the stem and add a -t at the end.
Why is "soll" translated as "is supposed to" here instead of "should"?
While sollen is often translated as "should" when giving advice (usually in its subjunctive form, sollte), the present tense soll frequently expresses an expectation, a scheduled plan, or someone else's will. In this sentence, it means there is a set plan for the room to be wallpapered.