müssen
Meaning in English: must, to have to
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Wir müssen noch einkaufen gehen.
We still have to go shopping.
Forms of müssen in the top 5,000
German verbs change their ending with the person and tense, and each form is counted on its own. These forms of müssen are also in the top 5,000:
Ich muss jetzt leider los.
Unfortunately I have to go now.
Gestern musste ich lange arbeiten.
Yesterday I had to work late.
Er meinte, man müsse mehr Wasser trinken.
He said one should drink more water.
Wir mussten eine Stunde auf den Bus warten.
We had to wait an hour for the bus.
Eigentlich müssten wir jetzt los.
Actually we ought to go now.
Der Zug müsste eigentlich schon da sein.
The train should really be here by now.
Du musst morgen früh aufstehen.
You have to get up early tomorrow.
How common is müssen?
müssen is number 109 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 817 times per million words — about once every 1,200 words. Its most frequent form is muss (#99).
Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 45% of the words in an ordinary German text. A1 means a beginner word, usually met in the first weeks of learning.
Next to it in the frequency list
- 105seinehis, its
- 106diesemthis (dative, masc./neut.)
- 107das Prozentpercent
- 108ihrenher, their (acc. masc., dat. pl.)
- 109müssenmust, to have to
- 110DeutschlandGermany
- 111jetztnow
- 112zwischenbetween
- 113ihnenthem, to them; Ihnen = you
In these word lists
- The 500 most common German words#109
- The 1,000 most common German words#109
- The 5,000 most common German words#109
- The most common German verbs#19
- German A1 vocabulary#89
Translations, levels and examples were written with AI help and are awaiting review by a native speaker — how the list was made.