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Breakdown of Der Katalog muss gedruckt werden.
müssen
must
gedruckt werden
to be printed
der Katalog
the catalog
Questions & Answers about Der Katalog muss gedruckt werden.
Why is der used before Katalog?
Because Katalog is a masculine noun in German, and here it’s the subject of the sentence, so it stands in the nominative case. The definite article for masculine nominative is der.
What does muss mean here, and why is it placed second?
muss is the third-person singular form of müssen, meaning “must” or “has to.” German main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule, so muss appears in the second position after the subject Der Katalog.
Why do we say gedruckt werden instead of simply drucken?
Because the sentence is in the passive voice. In German passive with a modal verb you use the past participle of the main verb (here gedruckt) plus the infinitive werden to express “must be printed.” You cannot say muss drucken for passive meaning.
What part of speech is gedruckt?
gedruckt is the past participle (Partizip II) of the verb drucken. In passive constructions it combines with werden to form the passive voice.
Why is werden at the end of the sentence?
In German, when you have a modal verb plus another infinitive (here the passive-building werden), both non-finite verbs move to the clause-final position. So you get gedruckt werden at the end.
Which voice is this sentence in?
It’s in the passive voice (Vorgangspassiv). The action (printing) happens to the subject (the catalog) rather than being performed by it.
How would you mention who prints the catalog?
You add an agent in the dative or with von + dative. For example:
Der Katalog muss von der Druckerei gedruckt werden.
Here von der Druckerei indicates “by the printer.”
What’s the difference between Vorgangspassiv and Zustandspassiv?
Vorgangspassiv (process passive) uses werden and the past participle to express an action in progress or requirement (e.g., muss gedruckt werden). Zustandspassiv (state passive) uses sein plus the past participle to describe a resulting state (e.g., Der Katalog ist gedruckt means “The catalog is printed” i.e. already in printed form).
How could this sentence look in the perfect tense?
You would use gemusst (participle of müssen) plus worden to build the perfect passive with a modal:
Der Katalog hat gedruckt werden müssen.
Literally: “The catalog has had to be printed.”
How do you translate Der Katalog muss gedruckt werden into English?
The most natural translation is “The catalog must be printed.”
More from this lesson
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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