Every language has words or expressions which are hard to translate. German native speakers love to use modal particles in the spoken language, which give a special emphasis to their statement.

When listening to German native speaker you might have heard some words you can’t figure out their meaning. These so-called modal particles are small words without a clear meaning nor required by a grammatical rule. Then, what they are for? They give emphasis to what the speaker wants to say, and sometimes, the sentence can sound weird without them.

No meaning, no grammar, how can I learn them? That is actually the problem. The best thing to learn them would be to live in a German environment and learn them just in the everyday life. But not everybody got this opportunity. So, I will try to explain them by giving examples and having a close look at the situations in which a native speaker would use them.

The most typical modal particles are: 

denn, mal, bloß, doch, ja, eigentlich, aber, ruhig, sowieso, einfach, halt, eben, schon, vielleicht.

Some of them, like ja, aber, ruhig, einfach, bloß or vielleicht, can have an actual meaning, but then they are not used as modal particles. We will also see how they are different from their normal use.

denn

Let’s start with a typical situation. You are at a friend’s place or at a party and you start to talk with somebody you don’t know. You might ask some questions about his/her job or where he/she is from. Let’s compare these two sentences:

Woher kommen Sie?

Woher kommen Sie denn?

Here, ‘denn’ is a typical modal particle, it has no meaning at all. Don’t get confused with the conjunction ‘denn’ (because). The conjunction connects two sentences and is always at the beginning of the second sentence. In contrast, the modal particles appear in the middle (or at the end) of either a question or a sentence.

So, what is the difference between the two questions? You are asking exactly the same thing and very likely, you will get a similar answer. However, the person you had asked might react in a different way.

The most obvious answer is that the second question is slightly longer. That’s it? Kind of. The first one sounds a bit like a police interrogation, too direct, pretty rude. With the modal particle the question is simply longer, therefore more acceptable, politer.

Another situation could be on the train or bus when you accidently bump into a friend.

Wo fährst du denn hin? Or: Wohin fährst du denn?

Wo fährst du hin? Or: Wohin fährst du?

First, there are two ways of saying the same thing. The version with ‘wohin’ is the standard question you will usually find in textbooks. However, in the spoken language ‘wo’ and ‘hin’ are often split into two parts. Without the modal particle ‘denn’, only a certain intonation could save the speaker to be considered too inquisitive. Again, the difference lies in the degree of politeness.

Another use of the modal particle ‘denn’ is to express surprise.

Wo kommst du denn her?

(Where do you come from? Here, it is more a rhetorical question.)

Wie siehst du denn aus?

(You look terrible! Literally: How do you look like?)

Was machen Sie denn da?

(What the hell are you doing?)

mal

The particle ‘mal’ can make a request sound politer. It sounds as if the speaker wants to bother the other person only for a short time.

Könnten Sie mir (bitte) mal helfen?

(Could you please help me, just for a short moment?)

Könnte ich (bitte) mal Ihren Stift haben?

(Could I please borrow your pen, only for a few seconds?)

In the second sentence, it is implied that then pen will be returned as soon as possible. Without ‘mal’, one might think that the asker wants to keep the pen forever. With ‘bitte’, obviously the sentence is even more polite. One could say, longer the sentence is or more modal particles it got, politer it is.

Kommen Sie (her)!

(Please come over here!)

Kommen Sie bitte (her)!

Kommen Sie doch bitte (her)!

Kommen Sie doch bitte mal (her)!

From the first to the fourth, the meaning is completely the same, but the degree of politeness increases. That means, the modal particles have the quality to change the tone of the sentence.  ‘her’ makes the whole story more difficult, meaning ‘towards the speaker’. ‘Kommen Sie!’ in certain circumstances could be acceptable, while Kommen Sie her! sounds pretty rude (imagine an angry general calling a soldier).

schon

Have you ever realised that when Germans speak English they often use the word ‘already’? Probably because in German ‘schon’ (already) is used in a different way.

One way is when asking whether you have ever done something ‘ever’ translates to ‘schon mal’.

Warst du schon mal in Berlin?

(Have you ever been in Berlin?)

Ja, ich war schon mal da.

(Yes, I have.)

Nein, ich war noch nie/nicht da.

(No, I haven’t.)

The negative answer to ‘schon (mal)’ is ‘noch nie’ or noch nicht’.

Or similar when asking whether something has been done.

Haben Sie den Brief schon geschrieben?

(Have you written the letter?)

Ja, ich habe ihn schon geschrieben.

(Yes, I have. Literally: I have written it already.)

Nein, ich habe ihn noch nicht geschrieben.

(No, I haven’t. Literally: I haven’t written it yet.)

eigentlich

‘eigentlich’ sometimes has a similar meaning to ‘actually’.

Hast du eigentlich ein Auto?

Here, the speaker expresses his/her being not sure about the fact whether the other person has a car or not. Again, without ‘eigentlich’ the questions might sound pretty rude.

doch

Ich habe es dir doch schon erzählt.

(I have told you already.)

Here, ‘doch’ stresses ‘schon’. This sentence could be said after the other speaker had expressed doubts if he/she knew anything about it. And the answer is a little bit like saying: How can’t you remember? I had told you, so you should know.

In other circumstances and in a more positive context, ‘doch’ can express surprise, like in:

Das ist doch toll!

(That is really great!)

Sometimes, with ‘doch’ can be expressed a slight doubt.

Das ist doch dein Auto, oder?

(That is your car, isn’t it?)

ruhig

As a modal particle ‘ruhig’ doesn’t mean calm, silent as the adjective. It means more something like ‘don’t worry, no problem’.

Kommen Sie ruhig rein!

(Don’t worry! Come in!)

Nehmen Sie sich ruhig Zeit!

(No worries, take your time!)

halt/eben

‘halt’ or ‘eben’ both express resignation. Often while saying it the speaker would shrug the shoulders at the same time.

Das ist halt so.

(That’s just the way it is!)

Da kann man halt nichts machen.

(There is nothing that can be done about it.)

sowieso

A typical mistake I often hear is ‘wie so’, probably meaning ‘like that’. That is not correct. If one wants to say: ‘I like it like that’, in German it would be: I mag es so. However, the mistake might come from something the student had heard and which sounds similar: ‘sowieso’, meaning more or less anyway. Let’s see some examples:

Er kommt sowieso nicht mehr.

(Anyway, he will not come anymore.)

Ich habe sowieso keine Lust darauf, heute Abend ins Kino zu gehen.

(Anyway, I am not keen on going to the movies tonight.)

Das ist sowieso besser so.

(Anyway, it is better this way.)

aber

Usually, ‘aber’ is a conjunction meaning ‘but’. As a modal particle it means something similar to ‘though’, to contradict what had been said before or to emphasize the content.

Das ist aber gar nicht so schlecht.

(That’s not bad, though.)

Das passt mir heute aber gar nicht.

(It doesn’t suit me today.)

Das ist aber eine Überraschung!

(That is a surprise.)

ja

As a modal particle, ‘ja’ does not mean yes, but it emphasizes the usually positive meaning.

Das ist ja interessant/toll/super!

(That’s really interesting/great.)

bloß

Usually, ‚bloß’ has a very similar meaning with ‚nur’ (only). However, as a modal particle, it often appears in a warning.

Sagen Sie das bloß nicht zu laut!

(Don’t say that aloud!)

Sei bloß vorsichtig!

(Be careful!)