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The article is devoted to the development of the modal system in German. The comparative analysis of the changes in the semantics of the moods and of the preterite-present verbs expressing modality is based on Gothic, Old and Middle High German texts. On the basis of this analysis was shown as in the process of decategorization – transition of the functions of expression of the internal modality from moods to the being in process of formation modal verbs – the meanings expressed in morphological category on the grammatical level pass to lexical-grammatical means, that allow to express the internal modality more differentially.