From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

German grammar
Nouns
Verbs
Articles
Adjectives
Pronouns
Adverbial phrases
Conjugation
Sentence structure

German modal particles (in German: Modalpartikeln or Abtönungspartikeln) are a part of speech in the German language. These words have a dual function: reflecting the mood or attitude of the speaker or narrator, and highlighting the sentence focus. They are uninflected. Modal particles are mainly used in spontaneous spoken language in colloquial registers.

Halt and eben imply that the (often unpleasant) fact expressed in a sentence cannot be changed and must be accepted.

Gute Kleider sind eben teuer. ("Good clothes are expensive, it can't be helped.")

Er hat mich provoziert, da habe ich ihn halt geschlagen. ("He provoked me, so I hit him – what do you expect?")

Es ist halt so. ("That's just how it is.")

Ja indicates that the speaker thinks a certain fact should be known to the listener and intends his statement to be more of a reminder or conclusion.

Ich habe ihm ein Buch geschenkt, er liest ja sehr gerne. ("I gave him a book; as you know he likes to read.")

Ich verleihe kein Geld, das zerstört ja nur Freundschaften. ("I never lend money. Everyone knows that only destroys friendships.")

Mal indicates a certain immediacy to the action, or it can carry a meaning something akin to "at some time".

Sing mal etwas Schönes! ("Sing something pretty for once!")

Warst du schon mal in Österreich? ("Have you ever been to Austria?")

Doch can have two meanings. For one, it can serve as a reply to a real or imagined, or pre-emptively answered, disagreement, hesitation, or wrong assumption on the part of the listener, or other people. In different situations this can have different effects.

Komm doch her! ("Why don't you come here?")

Komm doch endlich her! ("Come here at last!")

Ich habe dir doch gesagt, dass es nicht so ist. ("I did tell you that it's not like that.")

Ich kenne mich in Berlin aus. Ich war doch letztes Jahr schon dort. ("I know my way around Berlin. Did you forget I visited it last year already?")

In this way, doch can be similar to schon, but schon implies an actual qualification of the statement, often made explicit in a phrase with aber ("but"):

Ich war schon auf der Party, aber Spaß hatte ich nicht. ("I was indeed at the party, but I did not enjoy myself.")

In other contexts, doch indicates that the action described in the sentence was, in fact, unlikely to occur:

Du bist also doch gekommen! ("You came after all.")

Ich sehe nicht viel fern, aber wenn etwas Gutes kommt, schalte ich doch ein. ("I don't watch much TV, but I do tune in if something good comes on.")

Eh, meaning "in any case" in most German dialects, implies an emphasized assertion in many Austrian dialects:

Ich hab ihm eh gesagt, dass er sich wärmer anziehen soll. ("I told him to put on warmer clothes in the first place.")

Das ist eh nicht wahr. ("That's not true anyway.")

The effect that a flavoring particle has is often vague and dependent on the overall context. Speakers often use them somewhat excessively, and sometimes combine several particles, as in doch mal, ja nun, or even ja doch nun mal. They are a feature typical of the spoken language.

• Hammer's German Grammar and Usage; revised by Martin Durrell; Edward Arnold, a division of Hodder and Sloughton; ISBN 0-340-50128-6

• Teaching German Modal Particles