sollen

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Verb

sollen

1. third-person plural present indicative of sollar

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch sollen, from Middle French soller (“to play a ball game”), from Old French soule (“wooden or leather ball”), of unclear ultimate origin but perhaps a Germanic borrowing, from Proto-Germanic *kūlǭ (“bump”), compare German Keule (“bat”) and Dutch kogel (“sphere-shaped object”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔlə(n)/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

sollen

1. to throw back and forth (of a ball)
2. to play, to mess

   We laten niet met ons sollen!

   We won't let anyone mess with us!

Inflection

References

Galician

Verb

sollen

1. inflection of sollar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative

German

Etymology

From Middle High German scholn, schuln, from Old High German sculan, skulan, scolan, from Proto-West Germanic *skulan.

Cognate with English shall and should, Dutch zullen, Danish skulle, Swedish skall and skulle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɔlən/

• audio (Germany)

  (file)

• audio (Austria)

  (file)

Verb

sollen (preterite-present, third-person singular present soll, past tense sollte, past participle gesollt, auxiliary haben)

1. (auxiliary) should; to be obligated (to do something); ought; shall

   Ich soll das machen. ― I should do that.

   Ich sollte das nicht tun. ― I should not do it.

2. (auxiliary) to be recommended (to do something); to be asked (to do something)
3. (auxiliary) to be intended (to do something); to be meant (to be something)
4. (auxiliary) to be said (to do something); reportedly; they say that; I hear that; so they say; rumor has it; supposedly.

   Es soll da viele Leute geben. ― They say that there are many people there.

5. (auxiliary, in a subordinate clause in the simple past tense) would; indicates that the subordinate clause indicates something that would happen in the past but after the time frame of the main clause
6. (auxiliary, in a subordinate clause in the subjunctive) should; indicates that the subordinate clause indicates a hypothetical and unlikely condition for the main clause

Usage notes

• Sollen expresses moral duty or the suggestion that something ought to be done. Müssen can express the necessity of doing something, but also the moral duty. Both verbs can express a duty imposed by someone else. In this case müssen is stronger than sollen, implying that the imposing person has some kind of power to make the other really do it.
• The following infinitive can be dropped if the meaning is clear from the situation. This is especially true with tun.
  • Was soll ich heute? ― What should I do today?

Conjugation

Further reading

• “sollen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “sollen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “sollen” in Duden online
• “sollen” in OpenThesaurus.de

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Central Franconian solle, from Middle High German scholen, from Old High German skulan, from Proto-West Germanic *skulan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzolən/

Verb

sollen (third-person singular present soll, past participle sollen, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. to ought to, shall, should

Conjugation

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Spanish

Verb

sollen

1. inflection of sollar:
   1. third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person plural imperative