Breakdown of Diese alte Legende soll wahr sein.
sein
to be
alt
old
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
sollen
should / ought to
wahr
true
die Legende
the legend
Questions & Answers about Diese alte Legende soll wahr sein.
Why does soll mean "is said to" here instead of "should"?
This is the "subjective" use of the modal verb sollen. While sollen usually expresses a duty or command, it is also frequently used to report rumors, hearsay, or claims made by others. By using soll, you are essentially saying, "I've heard this is true, but I didn't verify it myself."
If I wanted to say "This legend should be true" (because I hope it is), would I still use soll?
No. If you want to express your own expectation, opinion, or wish (meaning "ought to"), you would use the Konjunktiv II form sollte: Diese Legende sollte wahr sein. Using the standard present tense soll here marks the statement as a reported rumor.
Could I translate this using man sagt (people say) instead?
Yes! Man sagt, dass diese alte Legende wahr ist means exactly the same thing. However, using sollen is a very common and elegant shortcut in German for expressing hearsay because it avoids needing a whole separate dass (that) clause.
Why does the adjective alte end in -e here?
This is a quick refresher on weak adjective endings. The word diese (this) is a "der-word," meaning it acts just like the definite article die (the). Because diese already does the heavy lifting of showing we have a feminine nominative subject, the adjective alte only takes the "weak" ending, which is simply -e.
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