Sie meinte, sie müsse diese Rolle im Stück spielen.
She said she had to act this part in the play.Die Kinder berichteten, dass ihre Betreuerin während des
Bombenangriffs bei ihnen bleiben wolle.
The children reported that their carer wanted to stay with them during
the bombing attack.Past: er/sie/es/man habe + infinitive of verb + modal verb in the infinitveSie sagte, sie habe diese Rolle immer spielen müssen.
She said she always had to act this part.Die Kinder berichteten, dass ihre Betreuerin während des
Bombenangriffs bei ihnen habe bleiben wollen.
The children reported that their carer had wanted to stay with them
during the bombing attack. See 35.3a (p. 76) for the perfect tense forms of modal verbs; and 8.6 (p. 12) for the word
order in subordinate clauses.39.6 Reported speech
(a) Subjunctive I keeps the tense of the original words which are being
reported.German differs from English here. In English, the tense of the reported verb is
influenced by the tense of the introductory verb:Original words I am the mayor of this town
Report He says he is the mayor of this town.
He said he was the mayor of this townOriginal words I was (have been) the mayor of this town.
Report He says he was the mayor of this town.
He said he had been the mayor of this town.Person wollen dürfen mögenich wolle dürfe möge
du wollest dürfest mögest
Sie wollen dürfen mögen
er/sie/es/man wolle dürfe möge
wir wollen dürfen mögen
ihr wollet dürfet möget
Sie/sie wollen dürfen mögen39
Subjunctive