Abstract. The scmanlic relations and oppositions between the German modals and their various uses are treated here as instantiations of a common semantic template, which is described as a complex and condensed relational structure between a modal source, path, and goal. The different readings of a modal verb (less grammaticalizcd narrow-scope uses vs. more grammaticalized wide-scope uses) and the different types of modality (deontic, volitional and dispositional modality) uniformly arise out of specific feature realizations in the relational positions of the basic semantic template.