Present tense of "dürfen"
We have already had an introduction to German modal verbs and their usage in Chapter 8 of this course. Here are the present tenses of two more modal verbs which we have encountered in this chapter:

Grammar 22: Present tense of "dürfen" (= to be allowed to) Singular   ich darf I am allowed to du darfst Sie dürfen You are allowed to (informal/formal)  er/sie/es darf He/she/it is allowed to Plural   wir dürfen We are allowed to ihr dürft Sie dürfen You are allowed to (informal/formal)  sie dürfen They are allowed to

Usage of "dürfen"
The verb "dürfen" corresponds to English "be allowed to" or "can" (in the sense of having the permission to do something).

• Was dürfen Sie essen?
  (What are you allowed to eat?)
• Dürfen Sie Alkohol trinken?
  (Can you drink alcohol?)

Great care must be taken when translating the English word "can" into German. You need to distinguish between two different possible meanings of "can": "to be able to do something" (= "können") and "to have permission to do something" (= "dürfen"). For example:

• Ich kann Rad fahren.
  (I can (= know how to) ride a bicycle.)
• Ich darf Rad fahren.
  (I can (= have permission to) ride a bicycle.)
• Andrea kann Deutsch.
  (Andrea can (= knows how to) speak German.)
• Andrea darf nach Deutschland fahren.
  (Andrea is able to (= has permission to) go to Germany.)

Present tense of "müssen"

Grammar 23: The present tense of "müssen" (= must) Singular   ich muss I must du musst Sie müssen You must (informal/formal)  er/sie/es muss He/she/it must Plural   wir müssen We must ihr müsst Sie müssen You must (informal/formal)  sie müssen They must

Usage of "müssen"
The verb "müssen" corresponds to English "must" or "to have to". For example:

• Ich muss abnehmen.
  (I must lose weight.)
• Am Abend muss ich immer lernen.
  (In the evenings I have to study.)

The negative of "dürfen" and "müssen"
Great care must be taken when using "dürfen" and "müssen" in the negative. Although "müssen" is used to translate "must", it is "nicht dürfen" which is used to translate "mustn't" in the sense of "not being allowed to do something".

The words "nicht müssen" are instead used to translate "don't have to". For example:

• Michael darf das nicht tun.
  (Michael must not do that.)
• Michael muss das nicht tun.
  (Michael does not have to do that.)
  
• Alkohol darf ich nicht trinken.
  (I'm not allowed to drink alcohol.)
• Alkohol muss ich nicht trinken.
  (I don't have to drink alcohol.)

 Chapter 10.14: Adverbs and word order

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