Video 6: Modal Verbs in Präteritum & Nominalisierung

Source: ~2.2 hour recorded live Zoom class (sixth session of the B1 batch). Long stretches are silence/dead air (recording left running during independent work) or pure roll-call/logistics chatter and are skipped below. Approximate topic timestamps:

• Silence / roll call / opening logistics (00:00–02:55) — skipped, no content
• Homework review of a translation text: müssen vs. "must," ordinal numbers via dots, indirect questions with ob, article-without-noun ellipsis, genau vs. ganz with comparatives (02:55–18:30)
• New-student introductions and course-pattern Q&A (18:30–23:20) — skipped, administrative
• Modal-verb-in-Präteritum exercise (Anna & Paula planning a vacation): wollte/wollten vs. möchte, why K2-style wishes can't go into Präteritum, preference for gern over mögen + infinitive (23:20–35:55)
• Continued exercise: vorhaben, versuchen, müssen/sollen entscheiden, verb-position with the filler/adverb gern (35:55–43:00)
• Nominalisierung exercise: verbs that double as neuter nouns (das Reisen, das Erholen, das Fliegen, das Grillen, das Kochen), beim/zum + Nominalisierung, and dative quirky-subject verbs (Spaß machen, gut gehen) explaining why the noun-infinitive is the subject and the person is a dative object (43:00–53:00)
• Listening exercise with comprehension questions (Henning text) (53:00–01:21:00) — mostly answer-checking; one explanatory line on wegfahren and es geht mir gut revisited
• Railway-station vocabulary: odd-one-out drills (Bahnhof/Schalter/Fahrgast/Plattform; Ankunft/Abfahrt/ Fortsetzung der Fahrt/Vorsicht; Verspätung/Durchsage/Anschluss/Bordbistro), Abflug vs. Abfahrt (01:06:00–01:11:00)
• Opposites vocabulary drill: verzweifelt sein, Abenteuer erleben, sich langweilen, ankommen/abfahren, sich ärgern, kaputt machen, gut gelaunt, zufrieden sein (01:11:00–01:16:30)
• Homework review: forming W-questions from key words in a text (1:16:30–end) — brief, mostly answer-checking, mostly skipped as logistics/drilling without new explanation

Topics Covered

• müssen vs. English "must" — correct translation is "has to/have to," not "must"
• Ordinal numbers marked with a dot (21. = 21st)
• Indirect questions with ob (verb goes to the end) vs. direct yes/no questions
• Article used without its noun (ellipsis) when the noun has already been mentioned
• genau vs. ganz — both can mean "exactly," but only als is used with the comparative; ganz is a filler/modal particle that intensifies
• Modal verbs in the Präteritum: wollte/wollten (from wollen) as the past form to use instead of möchte, which is a K2 (Konjunktiv II) form and cannot be put into Präteritum
• mögen + infinitive is grammatically possible but rarely used — prefer gern + verb instead
• Verb-second word order with gern as a freely placed adverb
• vorhaben (to plan), versuchen (to try/attempt)
• Nominalisierung: verbs whose infinitive doubles as a neuter noun (always das), and how that das changes to dem when combined with a dative preposition (e.g. beim, nach dem)
• Dative quirky-subject verbs: (etwas) macht (jemandem) Spaß, es geht (jemandem) gut — the activity is the grammatical subject, the person is a dative object
• Railway-station vocabulary and "odd one out" vocabulary drills
• Abflug (flight departure only) vs. Abfahrt (departure for train/bus/car, general)
• Opposites vocabulary (Gegenteile)

Homework Correction: müssen, ob, genau/ganz

A homework translation exercise was corrected line by line.

• müssen should not be translated as "must" in English — the better translation is "has to / have to", since müssen expresses compulsion. "I must see it immediately" should be rendered as "I have to see it immediately."
• Ordinal numbers: a dot after a number marks it as ordinal (German "21." = English "21st"). The teacher noted: "whenever you see any dot after any number, that means it's an ordinal number."
• ob (= "if/whether") is used to form indirect questions, and whenever ob is used, the verb goes to the end of the clause. Example logic given: a direct question like "Kommst du heute?" becomes more polite as an indirect question — "Ich frage, ob du heute kommst" (lit. I'm asking if you're coming today) — with the conjugated verb pushed to clause-final position.
  • Ich weiß nicht, ob es den Kindern gefallen wird. → I don't know if this will please the children.
• Article without noun: in some written texts, once a noun has already been introduced, only its article is repeated afterward (the noun itself is dropped) to avoid repetition. The teacher flagged that learners should be able to recognize this pattern in reading, but should not imitate it in their own writing (Schreiben) or speaking (Ausdruck).
• genau = precisely/exactly/carefully.
• als vs. ganz: als ("as") is the word used with the comparative form — e.g. Ich laufe so schnell wie mein Bruder / comparative constructions use als. ganz also loosely means "exactly," but it functions as a filler / modal particle that intensifies the feeling of a sentence rather than forming a grammatical comparison. Rule given: use als only in comparative constructions; ganz can be used more freely as an intensifier.
• hingehen = to go (over) there. Example from the text: a family discusses going somewhere as a group for a long weekend, "von Freitag bis Sonntag."
• garnicht/gar nicht = not at all.
• nix (colloquial for nichts) = nothing — used loosely in speech, ideally accompanied by a noun in formal writing (e.g. "die Kinder können da nichts machen" rather than a bare nix).

Modal Verbs in the Präteritum

Exercise: fill in the correct Präteritum form of the appropriate modal verb, based on an Anna-und-Paula vacation-planning text.

• Anna und Paula wollten ihren Urlaub planen. → Anna and Paula wanted to plan their vacation.
• Anna und Paula fanden keine gemeinsame Lösung. → Anna and Paula could not find a common solution. (finden, not a modal verb — simple Präteritum.)
• Paula wollte sich im Urlaub einfach nur erholen. → Paula just wanted to relax during the vacation.
  • The teacher rejected the student's initial answer möchte here. Correction logic: möchte is a Konjunktiv II (K2) form, used to express a wish in the present (Ich möchte Schokolade = I would like to eat chocolate — expresses a present wish). K2 forms cannot be put into the simple past (Präteritum) — that combination doesn't exist. Since the sentence needs a past-tense modal, the correct choice is wollte, the Präteritum of wollen, which is the closest "regular" modal counterpart to möchte.
• Anna wollte lieber ganz viel Kultur, ausgehen und Sport [treiben]. → Anna wanted instead a lot of culture, to go out, and to do sports.

Why avoid mögen + infinitive

• mögen (maag, maagst, ...) means "to like." Grammatically you can attach an infinitive to it (e.g. Ich mag spielen = I like to play), but this is rarely used in practice.
• The much more natural and preferred construction is gern + verb: Ich spiele gern. (I like to play.) Likewise Ich lese gern is strongly preferred over Ich mag lesen.
• Teacher's recommendation: don't use mögen when there's an infinitive verb at the end of the sentence — use gern instead. Reserve mögen for sentences with only one verb/object and no second infinitive, e.g. Ich mag Schokolade. (I like chocolate.) or Ich mag die Deutschklasse. (I like the German class.)
• gern is not a fixed-position word (not a "rhyme adverb" with one mandatory slot) — it can be placed almost anywhere in the sentence except taking the subject's or the verb's position. The conjugated verb still occupies the standard second position.

More modal-verb-in-context examples from the same exercise

• Sie mussten sich entscheiden, weil sie schon bald Urlaub hatten. → They had to decide because they already had vacation coming up soon.
• Der Mann im Reisebüro konnte ihnen mit guten Tipps helfen. → The man at the travel agency could help them with good tips.
• Sie hatten aber lange nach einem passenden Angebot suchen müssen/sollen. → They had to search for a long time for a suitable offer. Both mussten and sollten were accepted here — mussten was preferred because giving good travel suggestions is literally the travel agent's job/duty (Pflicht), but sollten was also marked acceptable.

Nominalisierung (Verb → Noun) and Dative Quirky-Subject Verbs

Verbs that double as nouns

When a verb's infinitive is used as a noun with no spelling change, the noun is always neuter (das).

• das Reisen → traveling
• das Erholen → relaxing/recovering
• das Fliegen → flying
• das Grillen → grilling/barbecuing (also called das Kochen in context — cooking)
• das Kochen → cooking
• das Selten (transcribed loosely — context: "having fun rarely / seldom")

Pattern drilled from a short text: Ich reise gern, aber das Fliegen macht mir ein bisschen Angst. Um mich zu erholen, bin ich lieber zu Hause. Da kann ich machen, was ich will. Ich habe so viel Spaß beim/am Kochen, oder besser gesagt, beim Grillen.

sum/beim + Nominalisierung

Three ways to attach an action to a sentence, and how to choose between them:

1. um ... zu + Infinitiv → "in order to" / for the purpose of (used for purpose clauses)
2. bei + dem (beim) + Nominalisierung → "while/during" — bei is a dative preposition, so the article das of the nominalized verb changes to dem, contracted to beim.
3. The bare noun itself, with no preposition at all, when the sentence structure doesn't require one.

"Here we have to write three ways. Either we have to use um... or we need to use this beim + Nominalisierung... or we just have to write the noun as it is."

• Nach dem Training [...] → after training — the dative preposition nach also triggers das → dem: das Training → nach dem Training.

Dative quirky-subject verbs: Spaß machen / gut gehen

Key grammar point: with verbs like (jemandem) Spaß machen and es geht (jemandem) gut, the activity (the nominalized verb) is the grammatical subject, and the person affected is a dative object — not the subject, even when the person is a named individual.

• Kochen macht Henning Spaß. → Cooking is fun for Henning. (lit. Cooking makes fun to/for Henning.)
  • Henning is not the subject here, even though it is a person's name — because the meaning is "fun happens to Henning," i.e. it affects him indirectly. Whenever there is this sense of "to/for someone", the noun is dative, not nominative.
  • Test sentence used to confirm: Mir macht das Spaß. → It's fun for/to me. Why mir and not mich? Because the action is happening to the person (dative), not to an object being directly acted upon (accusative).
  • Reasoning: subjects can never be objects of a preposition — German has accusative, dative, and wechsel prepositions, but no such thing as a "nominative preposition," because nominative = the subject, and a sentence's subject is never the object that a preposition or quirky-dative-verb points at.
• Abwaschen macht ihm nicht Spaß. → Washing up is not fun for him.
• Beim Putzen hört er immer Musik. → While cleaning he always listens to music.
• Es geht mir gut. → It's going well for me / I'm doing fine — same dative logic: mir (dative), not a nominative "I am."

Why das → dem after a dative preposition

• If a verb keeps the same spelling as its noun, the noun's article is always das (e.g. (das) Essen — same spelling for the verb essen and the noun das Essen).
• When that das-noun is combined with a dative preposition (e.g. nach, bei), the article changes from das to dem: Training → das Training → nach dem Training.

Railway-Station Vocabulary (Odd One Out)

A vocabulary drill: pick the word that does not belong with the others.

• der Bahnhof, der Schalter, der Fahrgast, die Plattform → odd one out: der Fahrgast (passenger) — it refers to a person, while Bahnhof (station), Schalter (counter/ticket window), and Plattform (platform) are all places/things found at a railway station.
• die Ankunft, die Abfahrt, die Fortsetzung der Fahrt, die Vorsicht → odd one out: die Vorsicht (caution/care) — it is an unrelated concept, while Ankunft (arrival), Abfahrt (departure), and Fortsetzung der Fahrt (continuation of the journey) are all stages of a train journey.
• die Verspätung, die Durchsage, der Anschluss, das Bordbistro → odd one out: das Bordbistro (on-board bistro/buffet car) — it is a part of the train, while Verspätung (delay), Durchsage (announcement), and Anschluss (connection) are all things that happen at a railway station.
• der Abflug vs. die Abfahrt — both can be glossed "departure," but Abflug is used only for flights/airports, while Abfahrt is used for any other kind of departure (train, bus, car).

Opposites Vocabulary Drill (Gegenteile)

Pairs/groups drilled as antonyms or related expressions:

• verzweifelt sein → to be in despair/hopeless ↔ context implies its opposite expresses optimism/hope
• ein Abenteuer erleben → to experience an adventure ↔ sich langweilen → to be bored
• ankommen → to arrive ↔ abfahren → to depart
• sich ärgern → to be irritated/annoyed
• kaputt machen → to break/damage (something) ↔ reparieren → to repair
• gut gelaunt / Laune → good mood ↔ implied opposite of bad mood
• (sich) zufrieden / glücklich sein → to be satisfied/happy
• (sich) langweilen → to be bored
• Earlier in the same vocabulary chain: auspacken (to unpack) ↔ einpacken (to pack)
• entspannt sein → to be relaxed

Listening Exercise Notes (Henning Text)

Brief explanatory points that came up while checking listening-comprehension answers:

• Ich fahre weg, weil sonst immer jemand etwas von mir will. → I go away, because otherwise someone always wants something from me. Breakdown: wegfahren (separable verb) = to drive/go away; weil sends the verb to the end; sonst = otherwise; immer jemand = always somebody (subject); etwas von mir will = wants something from me (verb at the end because of weil).
• Ich helfe gern eine Woche in einem Projekt, weil es mir selbst gut geht. → I like to help for a week in a project, because it goes well for me / I'm comfortable with it — same es geht mir gut dative pattern noted above.

Notes & Tips

• Translate müssen as "has to/have to," never as "must" — "must" in English doesn't capture the compulsion sense the same way, and examiners/graders expect the has-to/have-to gloss.
• Never put möchte into the Präteritum — it is already a Konjunktiv II form; for a past-tense "wanted to," use wollte/wollten instead.
• Avoid mögen + infinitive — even though it's grammatically valid (e.g. Ich mag spielen), native usage strongly prefers gern + verb (Ich spiele gern). Reserve mögen for simple "I like [noun]" sentences with no second verb.
• als vs. ganz: use als specifically with comparative constructions; ganz is a filler/intensifier, not a comparative marker — don't confuse the two even though both can gloss as "exactly."
• Recognize, but don't imitate, dropped nouns: some texts repeat only the article and omit an already-established noun — understand this when reading, but write full noun phrases in your own Schreiben output.
• Dative quirky-subject verbs (Spaß machen, gut gehen, etc.): always double-check which word is grammatically the subject — with these verbs, the activity/thing is the subject and the affected person is a dative object, even if the person is a proper name. A subject can never simultaneously be the object of a preposition.
• Abflug is airport-only; use Abfahrt for trains, buses, and cars.
• Nominalized verbs (Infinitiv as noun) are always neuter (das) unless that das contracts with a dative preposition (das → dem, e.g. beim, beim Training, nach dem Training).