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Lesson 39B2

Passive with Modal Verbs

సహాయక క్రియలతో కర్మణి వాక్యం

Combine the passive from B1 with a modal verb, and German stacks three verb elements at once — the modal in position two, the participle and infinitive werden both pushed to the end.

Grammar Comparison

వ్యాకరణ పోలిక

Modal + participle + werden, all piling up at the end

German

Das muss gemacht werden. (This must be done — muss stays in position 2; gemacht werden both go to the end)

Telugu

ఇది చేయబడాలి. (this do-బడు-ఆలి — the passive marker and the necessity marker both attach directly onto the verb, at the end)

Telugu handles this by stacking suffixes directly onto a single verb root: చేయు ('do') plus బడు (the -బడు passive auxiliary) plus ఆలి (necessity, 'must') fuse into one word-final cluster, చేయబడాలి. German achieves the identical layered meaning — 'passive' plus 'necessity' — by stacking three separate words instead of suffixes, but true to form it still crams all of that weight onto the end of the clause. If you can build the Telugu version by chaining suffixes onto చేయు, you already have the right instinct for where the pieces belong in German.

Vocabulary

పదజాలం

muss gemacht werdenmoos geh-MAHKHT VAIR-den
Telugu
చేయబడాలిcheyabadaali
English
must be done
kann repariert werdenkahn reh-pah-REERT VAIR-den
Telugu
సరి చేయబడగలదుsari cheyabadagaladu
English
can be repaired
soll gebaut werdenzol geh-BOWT VAIR-den
Telugu
నిర్మించబడాలిnirminchabadaali
English
should be built
darf nicht geraucht werdendahrf nikht geh-ROWKHT VAIR-den
Telugu
పొగ తాగకూడదుpoga thaagakoodadu
English
smoking is not allowed