Ich muss jetzt weggehen.

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Breakdown of Ich muss jetzt weggehen.

• jetzt: now
• müssen: have to
• weggehen: to go away

Questions & Answers about Ich muss jetzt weggehen.

Why is it muss and not muß?

Modern standard German writes this word as muss.

Older spelling used muß, but after the spelling reform, muss is the standard form. You will still sometimes see muß in older books or texts, but learners should use muss.

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What does muss mean here?

Muss is the 1st person singular form of müssen, which means to have to or must.

So:

• ich muss = I must / I have to

In this sentence, it expresses necessity or obligation: the speaker feels they need to leave.

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Why does the sentence start with Ich muss?

German main clauses usually put the conjugated verb in the second position.

Here, the subject comes first:

• Ich = subject
• muss = conjugated verb in second position

So the basic structure is:

• Ich muss jetzt weggehen.

This is very normal German word order.

You could also move another element to the front for emphasis:

• Jetzt muss ich weggehen. = Now I have to leave.

In that version, muss still stays in second position.

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Why is weggehen at the end?