"Ich soll meine Lehrerin eher fragen."

[Soglio]

Why not, "I should ask my teacher instead"?

[blargblargblarg]

Do english speakers use "i should rather" any longer ?

[helenvee]

Yes we do.

[Soglio]

Interesting. I would have said no, at least not in U.S. English, but it would have a usage that, in this case, would mean "instead." Seems just a twinge archaic to me--but again, that may only be in U.S. English.

[rowan.a.peter]

I would agree with Soglio on this, and I'm from the UK.

[snbutler]

I'm from the UK too but would agree with helenvee. It's not used super often but "I should rather" is still valid British English.

[Soglio]

"Sooner" versus "rather" makes a difference in meaning here, at least in US English. "Sooner" is generally a time reference (although some dialects do make it synonymous with "rather.") In this case, it would mean "I am supposed to ask my teacher [sooner than you want me to, sooner than some impending date, etc.]." Does "eher" lean one way or the other in German, or would it depend on context?

[wataya]

It depends on where you put the 'eher'. "Ich soll eher meine Lehrerin fragen" = "I'm supposed to rather ask my teacher (instead of the janitor whose advice wasn't that accurate)". "Ich soll meine Lehrerin eher fragen" = "I'm supposed to ask my teacher sooner" (e.g. if in the past I didn't ask any questions about a topic and therefore got totally lost. When I finally asked my question, it was already too late... so much stuff I had missed because I couldn't follow. So, in future I'm supposed to ask her sooner)

[Soglio]

Thank you. So, does "eher" essentially modify what comes immediately after? In other words, "eher meine Lehrerin" = my teacher rather than someone else; "eher fragen" = ask sooner?

[wataya]

I'd say 'yes'. (I'm not 100% sure that there isn't any exception, but basically that's it)

[Soglio]

Thank you--that helps.

[KelvinEcho]

"I will" is marked as a mistake, while "I'll" is ok in the solution. :(

[Soglio]

Report it as an error.

[Ledniva]

In my not so humble opinion, neither of those is acceptable. "I am supposed to" or "I should" are ok. ;-)

[Lexht]

Unless it's a contraction of "I shall" which is ok.

[Ledniva]

True, I didn't think of that possibility.

[hutcho66]

It hasn't been answered here yet, so I will try my best: 'I should' is not accepted here, because 'should' infers doubt, hence it uses the subjunctive II, much like could, would, etc. Hence, "Ich sollte meine Lehrerin eher fragen" = "I should ask my teacher sooner". I think in that case 'instead' would work better than sooner, it doesn't quite sound right to me.