Claims with sollen and wollen
In its reporting use, sollen attributes a claim to other sources: he is said to. Wollen can mark a claim made by the subject: he claims to. These differ from ordinary obligation and intention.
Understand the idea
Sollen and wollen can attribute claims rather than express ordinary duty or desire. Reporting sollen usually points to information supplied by others. Reporting wollen presents a claim made by the grammatical subject about themselves.
Build it step by step
For a present claim, combine the modal with an appropriate infinitive. For a claim about an earlier completed event, use the perfect infinitive. Context such as a source phrase or a statement that someone claims something is important because the same modal has other everyday meanings.
See it in a sentence
Anderen Berichten zufolge soll er reich sein.
Man erzählt, die Firma soll verkauft worden sein.
A useful memory aid
Ask who supplies the claim. Another source suggests reporting sollen; the subject's own assertion suggests reporting wollen.
A common trap
Do not translate every will-form as wants to. In the reporting use, a subject may be claiming to have done something rather than wanting to do it.