Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word mögen. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word mögen, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say mögen in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word mögen you have here. The definition of the word mögen will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofmögen, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Möge die Macht mit dir sein. ― May the Force be with you.
Mögest du all deine Ziele erreichen. ― May you achieve all of your goals.
2018, Anna Johannsen, Das Mädchen am Strand: Die Inselkommissarin, Luxembourg: Edition M, →ISBN, page 38:
Er hob die Hand als Zeichen, dass sie nicht weitersprechen möge.
He raised his hand as a sign that she should stop talking.
(He wishes for her to stop talking.)
2024, Klaus Hillenbrand, “Deutsche Ignoranz bei Judenhass”, in Die Tageszeitung, archived from the original on 2024-02-07:
Da prügelt ein Berliner Student einen Kommilitonen krankenhausreif, weil der Jude ist und auf das Schicksal der Hamas-Geiseln aufmerksam gemacht hat. Dafür möge der Schläger von der Uni fliegen, verlangt daraufhin Josef Schuster vom Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland.
A Berlin student beat up a fellow student to the point of requiring hospitalization because he was Jewish and had called attention to the fate of the Hamas hostages. Consequently, Josef Schuster from the Central Council of Jews in Germany is demanding that the hooligan be kicked out of the university.
As with all modal verbs, the past participle gemocht is used in the perfect tenses only when the verb is not followed by another infinitive: Käse habe ich noch nie gemocht. – “I've never liked cheese.” When an infinitive follows, mögen itself also stands in the infinitive (double infinitive construction): Ich habe sie nicht fragen mögen. – “I was hesitant to ask her.” Additionally, a verb of motion can be omitted: Ich mag nach Hause is equivalent to Ich mag nach Hause gehen.(“I want to go home.”)
Möchte and its forms are grammatically the past subjunctive (subjunctive ii) of mögen, but are never used as such in contemporary German. The conditional of mögen needs to be paraphrased with würde: Wenn ich Käse mögen würde, könnte ich viel mehr Gerichte essen. – “If I liked cheese, I could eat many more dishes.”
Möchte is in fact used as a somewhat more polite synonym of wollen(“to want”) in the present indicative: Wenn ich Käse möchte, sage ich dir Bescheid. – “If I want cheese, I'll let you know.” (synonymous with: Wenn ich Käse will,...). In colloquial German, the split between mögen and möchte is so clear-cut that the latter may be interpreted as an independent verb and hence used in the infinitive: Du hast hier gar nix zu möchten! – “You're not in the position to express wishes!” This is, however, nonstandard.