Learn Hardcore German: Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen. - My mother says I should go to sleep earlier today.

German often uses Konjunktiv I in indirect speech to show that this is what someone else says, thinks, or demands, not necessarily what the speaker claims as a fact.

Forms of sollen (relevant ones):

Indicative: ich soll, du sollst, er/sie/es soll
Konjunktiv I: ich solle, du sollest, er/sie/es solle

So ich solle marks this as reported speech (what the mother says).

In everyday spoken German, many people would actually say ich soll instead of ich solle, but ich solle is grammatically very correct and more typical in written or careful standard German.

Is there a difference in meaning between ich soll and ich solle here?

Yes, but it’s subtle:

ich soll = indicative; sounds like you are simply stating an obligation or instruction.
- Meine Mutter sagt, ich soll heute früher schlafen gehen.
  → More like: My mother tells me / expects me to go to bed earlier today.
ich solle = subjunctive I; emphasizes this is reported speech.
- Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
  → More like: My mother says (that) I should go to bed earlier today – with a slight distance: this is her statement.

In normal conversation, most people do not feel a big difference and just use ich soll. The ich solle version sounds more formal or written, sometimes a bit stiff in casual speech.

Can I also say Meine Mutter sagt, dass ich heute früher schlafen gehen soll? Which is more natural?

Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct and very common:

Meine Mutter sagt, dass ich heute früher schlafen gehen soll.

Comparison:

Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
- More formal / standard written style.
- Uses Konjunktiv I (ich solle) for indirect speech.
- Often found in journalism, reports, formal writing.
Meine Mutter sagt, dass ich heute früher schlafen gehen soll.
- Very natural in everyday spoken German.
- Uses dass and the indicative ich soll.
- This is what most people would actually say.

So for daily conversation, the dass + soll version is the most idiomatic.

Why is there a comma and no dass before ich?

You have:

Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.

German allows indirect speech without a conjunction like dass. This is called an uneingeleiteter Nebensatz (a subordinate clause without a subordinator).

Key points:

The comma is mandatory because ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen is a separate clause.
In this kind of indirect speech, the verb stays in normal second position (ich solle…), not at the end as it would with dass.

Compare:

With dass:
Meine Mutter sagt, dass ich heute früher schlafen gehen soll.
→ Verb at the end (soll).
Without dass:
Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
→ Verb in second position (ich solle).

Both are correct; the version without dass feels a bit more formal and is typical for reported speech.

Could I say …, ich heute früher schlafen gehen solle and put solle at the end?

No, not in this structure.

You can only move solle to the end if you introduce the clause with dass:

Meine Mutter sagt, dass ich heute früher schlafen gehen solle. ✔
(Here, dass triggers verb-final word order.)

Without dass, the clause behaves like a main clause: verb in second position:

Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen. ✔
Meine Mutter sagt, ich heute früher schlafen gehen solle. ✘ (ungrammatical in standard German)

What exactly does früher mean here, and earlier than what?

Früher here means “earlier (than usual)” or “earlier (than planned)” in the sense of time of day.

… heute früher schlafen gehen
→ go to sleep earlier today than you normally would (or than was previously agreed).

The comparison (earlier than what) is left implicit:

Earlier than you usually go to sleep.
Or earlier than on other days.
Or earlier than originally planned.

Context would make it clear, but German often leaves that comparison unstated.

Why is it heute früher and not früher heute?

Both heute and früher are time expressions, but they have different roles:

heute = the day (today)
früher = a more specific time within that day (earlier in the evening/night)

German tends to order time expressions from more general to more specific:

General: heute
Specific: früher

So:

ich soll heute früher schlafen gehen ✔
→ today (in general), at an earlier time (than usual)

früher heute schlafen gehen would sound unusual or confusing in this context.

Why is it schlafen gehen and not something like gehen schlafen?

Schlafen gehen is a fixed verb phrase meaning to go to bed / to go to sleep. German has several such verb + gehen combinations:

einkaufen gehen – to go shopping
spazieren gehen – to go for a walk
schwimmen gehen – to go swimming
schlafen gehen – to go to sleep / go to bed

In these constructions, gehen is the auxiliary-like verb that carries movement, and the other verb (schlafen, einkaufen, etc.) describes the activity. The usual order is [activity] + gehen, not the other way around.

So:

schlafen gehen ✔
gehen schlafen ✘ (sounds wrong in standard German in this meaning)

What is the difference between schlafen gehen and ins Bett gehen?

They are very close in meaning and often interchangeable:

schlafen gehen
→ literally “go to sleep”, idiomatically “go to bed (to sleep)”.
Slightly more focused on the act of going to sleep.
ins Bett gehen
→ literally “go into bed”, i.e. physically go to bed.
Often used with the same intention: go to bed (in order to sleep).

In context:

Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher ins Bett gehen.

Both sound natural. The first is a bit more idiomatic and common in spoken language.

Why is it sagt (present tense) and not sagte or hat gesagt?

The choice of tense depends on what you want to express:

Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
→ Present tense; can mean:
- She is saying this right now.
- Or she regularly says this (habit).
Meine Mutter sagte, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
→ Simple past; usually used in narrative texts:
My mother said (at that time) that I should go to bed earlier today.
Meine Mutter hat gesagt, ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
→ Present perfect; common in spoken German to refer to a past statement with present relevance:
My mother has said that I should go to bed earlier today.
(Implied: and this still applies.)

So sagt is fine if the instruction is current or habitual. The others change the time perspective.

Can I drop heute and just say Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle früher schlafen gehen?

Yes:

Meine Mutter sagt, ich solle früher schlafen gehen.

Then the sentence means:

My mother says I should go to bed earlier (in general / than I usually do).

With heute, it’s about tonight specifically:

… ich solle heute früher schlafen gehen.
→ earlier today / tonight

Without heute, it sounds more like a general recommendation or rule about your sleeping habits.