No. 89 in German
sollen
"To be supposed to" or "should."
In a sentence
Ich soll meine Hausaufgaben bis heute Abend fertig machen.
I am supposed to finish my homework by this evening.
In this sentence, 'sollen' is used to express an obligation or a duty prescribed to the speaker.
Was soll ich tun, wenn ich diesen Fehler sehe?
What should I do when I see this error?
Here, 'sollen' is used in a question to ask for advice or a suggestion.
Er sollte das Problem genauer untersuchen.
He should examine the problem more closely.
In this context, 'sollen' is used in its subjunctive form ('sollte') to express a recommendation or advice.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “sollen” in actual German podcasts.
Find “sollen” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays German podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into Deutsch, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
German books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).