mögen
to like
Mögen (to like) is the German modal verb for expressing what you like or feel fondly toward. It works for food, people, places, activities, and abstract things: ich mag Kaffee (I like coffee), ich mag dich (I like you), sie mag klassische Musik (she likes classical music).
The conjugation is irregular and changes the stem vowel in the singular: ich mag, du magst, er/sie/es mag, wir mögen, ihr mögt, sie/Sie mögen. The ich and er forms have no ending, the same pattern other modal verbs follow. The past participle is gemocht, and the simple past is mochte: ich mochte, du mochtest, er mochte.
The form you will meet most often in everyday speech is actually the subjunctive II: möchte (would like). Möchte is what Germans use to politely order, request, or express a wish: ich möchte einen Kaffee, bitte (I would like a coffee, please), möchtest du mitkommen? (would you like to come along?). Many beginners learn möchte before they learn the base verb, because it is so frequent at cafés and shops.
Compared to gefallen, which means "to be pleasing" and works the other way around grammatically, mögen is simpler. Ich mag das Buch and das Buch gefällt mir both mean "I like the book", but mögen keeps the speaker as the subject. Beginners usually find mögen easier to use.
Pronunciation: "MUR-gen" is a rough English approximation, with the ö sounding like the vowel in English "her" without the r. The g is hard, like in "go", and stress falls on the first syllable.
English
to like
Perfekt
ich habe gemocht
Partizip II
gemocht
Auxiliary
mögen appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Ich mag Pizza.
I like pizza.
The verb is in position 2.
Magst du Kaffee?
Do you like coffee?
In yes/no questions, the verb comes first.
Wir mögen den neuen Lehrer.
We like the new teacher.
Attributive adjectives need correct endings.
- What does mögen mean in German?
- Mögen means "to like" in German. It is used for liking food, people, places, and activities: ich mag Schokolade (I like chocolate), ich mag meinen Lehrer (I like my teacher). It is one of the six German modal verbs.
- How do you conjugate mögen in the present tense?
- Mögen is irregular and changes its stem vowel in the singular: ich mag, du magst, er/sie/es mag, wir mögen, ihr mögt, sie/Sie mögen. The ich and er forms have no ending, which is typical of modal verbs.
- What is the difference between mögen and möchten?
- Mögen means "to like" and refers to a general preference: ich mag Tee (I like tea). Möchte is its subjunctive II form and means "would like", used for polite requests and wishes: ich möchte Tee (I would like tea). At a café, you will almost always use möchte, not mag.
- What is the past tense of mögen?
- The simple past is mochte (ich mochte, du mochtest, er mochte), used mostly in writing. The perfect tense uses haben with the past participle gemocht: ich habe ihn gemocht (I liked him).
- How do you pronounce mögen?
- Mögen is pronounced roughly "MUR-gen" with stress on the first syllable. The ö is a rounded vowel close to the ur in English "burn" without the r sound. The g is hard, and the en at the end is short, almost a schwa.