2

Is it possible that there is no verb in a sentence?

Take the following sentence as example:

Morgen muss ich zum Arzt.

Does this sentence make sense?

3
  • 5
    Why shouldn't it make sense? Müssen is a verb... nothing is missing. Of course you could say: Morgen muss ich zum Arzt gehen, but it is not necessary to do that.
    – Tode
    Feb 22, 2017 at 9:04
  • 1
    muss is verb enough, isn't it?
    – tofro
    Feb 22, 2017 at 12:41
  • 1
    There is a verb in this sentence. It stands there, where all vers stand: At position 2. It is: »muss«, a form of »müssen«. Feb 22, 2017 at 17:53

1 Answer 1

8

Like in English, there are similar modal verbs (Modalverben) in German. These are dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen und wollen.

Mostly, they are "modelling" the main verb but it is also possible to use them without main verb.

In your example,

Morgen muss ich zum Arzt

the second word, muss, which is the conjugated version of the müssen, is the verb of the sentence. Like Torsten wrote in his comment, you could also say

Morgen muss ich zum Arzt gehen

and in this case, the meaning would be almost same.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.