German Language Stack Exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the German language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
Sign up to join this community
When sollen verb is used alone in sentence, how is one supposed to know the meaning?
Examples: 1) Was soll ich damit? Google translates as: What should I do with that? So in reality: Was soll ich damit? = Was soll ich damit machen?
2) Zu Hause soll ich nicht. Google translates as: I'm not supposed to be at home. So: Zu Hause soll ich nicht. = Zu Hause soll ich nicht sein.
How do I "guess" the second verb? Are there any rules that I can learn for this case? Thanks.
Zuhause soll ich nicht.
is an appropriate answer for the request
Üb' doch mal mehr, dann kannst du auch besser Geige spielen.
So, it's either clear from context (here: üben or Geige spielen), or it's the generic tun or machen.
(The translation google gives is plain wrong.)
Zu Hause soll ich nicht!
ergibt so isoliert keinen Sinn.
Der Satz - und speziell das soll bezieht sich auf das Verb des vorangehenden Satzes und kann nur im Kontext gedeutet werden.
Zu Hause soll ich nicht!
does not make sense in isolation.
The sentence - and especially soll is supposed to refer to the verb of the preceding sentence and can only be interpreted in context.
google translation: https://translate.google.com/
The missing verb in the sentences is tun or machen (do).
For the first example
Was soll ich damit?
is equivilent to
Was soll ich damit machen?
So the translation
What should I do with that?
is correct.
For the second example the translation you give is wrong.
If we add machen to the second example
Zu Hause soll ich (etwas) nicht machen.
should make it clear that something is missing.
As the other answers already said, the sentence needs some reference to what I shouldn't do at home.
For example
Kann ich hier Fußball spielen? Zu Hause soll ich nicht.
Can I play soccer here? I shouldn't do it at home.
Maybe you mean "Nach Hause soll ich (nicht)"*? While in German you would probably rather say "Ich soll (nicht) nach Hause.". There is a "gehen", "fahren","fliegen", etc. implied by the use of "nach Hause" which is a direction/location. The condition of the speaker being at home ("Ich" "nach Hause") must be fulfilled ("soll"). So what is said is, that the speaker has to be at home (in forseeable future), but he leaves out by what means he achieves this. The speaker doesn't want to bother you with uneccessary details, which is a typical example of german politeness ;o)
*) Nach vs. zu: You use 'zu' when it is a specified location (a supermarket), you use 'nach' when it is a undefined and/or geographical area (a town). "Nach Hause" could refer to one's actual home, but it could also just mean one's home-country, when you're abroad. It refers to what the speaker considers "home" at the given moment. (I think in English there is this ambiguity in the meaning of "home", too). So, "Ich gehe nach Hause", but "Ich gehe zu dem Haus, in dem Ich wohne". Yes, it is a bit confusing, most Germans mix it up from time to time, too.
