MODAL VERBS

Modal verbs act as auxiliary verbs and have a series of special characteristics
that make them different form all other verbs. These are the English modals:

can may will shall must need*

could might would should ought to dare*

Apart from these, there are other verbal forms (that although not modal verbs)
usually act as modals: have to, need to, dare to, be able to, be allowed to,
be supposed to... as well as modal expressions such as had better or would
rather.

 Characteristics of Modal Verbs

1) They are INVARIABLE, they cannot be conjugated, so they don’t add 3rd
person singular –S in the present...etc:
I can you can he can ... NOT he cans
2) They are always followed by an infinitive without TO (except for ought
to):
You should go to bed
INF
3) They don’t use auxiliary verbs do/does for negative, interrogative and
short answers:
They don’t may come tomorrow  They may not come tomorrow
Do you could open the door?  ‘Could you open the door?’ ‘Yes, I
could’
4) They can’t appear in TO infinitive or in –ING gerund forms:
To can Musting
5) Two modals can’t go together:
I will can go  IMPOSSIBLE

6) As they are invariable, they can’t be used for all verbal tenses. So, we
sometimes need to use other not modal verbs with similar meaning
in their place:
I will be able to go
He will be allowed to participate

 Use / Meaning

Modal verbs have a wide variety of meanings. They are used to express nuances
like probability, ability, obligation, prohibition, permission, necessity, advice...
etc. One same modal can express several of these meanings, depending on the
context.

1
ABILITY
can, could, be able to (poder, saber, ser capaç de...)
* We use CAN for ability in the present:
‘Natasha can play the piano’ / k ae n /
* The negative form of can is CANNOT or CAN’T
‘Jonathan can’t speak English’ / k a: n t /
* We use COULD for ability in the past:
‘Natasha could play the piano when she was four’
* Negative of could  COULDN’T (could not)
‘Jonathan couldn’t speak Spanish until he came to Valencia’
* We can’t use can/could for other tenses like future or present perfect...etc. So
we’ll use the conjugated expression BE ABLE TO + infinitive:
‘If Jonathan lives in Spain some months, he will be able to speak Spanish’
‘It has been a quiet day today, I’ve been able to do a lot of work’
* For the negative, we negate as usual: won’t be able to, haven’t been able
to...etc
‘I’m afraid I won’t be able to come to your party on Friday’
* We can also use be able to in present and past, although they are more formal
than can/could
She can write programs’
‘Emma is good with computers <
She is able to write programs’
Cows can’t fly / Cows aren’t able to fly
The children could swim without armbands / were able to swim without
armbands

PERMISSION
* Asking for Permission
can, could, may (¿puc?, ¿podria?, ¿em deixes...?)

‘Can I borrow your pen?’  common language

‘Could I use your mobile phone, please?’  more polite, usually with “please”
‘May I accompany you?’  formal language

To answer we use can or may(+formal), but not could:

‘Could I borrow your calculator?’ ‘Of course you can’
‘You can / may telephone from my office’

2
* Talking about permission, about rules... etc
can, could, be allowed to (poder, deixar, estar permès...)

CAN for the present  ‘Each passenger can take one bag onto the plane’
COULD for the past  ‘In the 1920’s you could drive without taking a test’
for other tenses  BE ALLOWED TO (although we can also use it in the present
or the past, where it is stronger than could):
‘Will we be allowed to take photos in the museum?’
‘She has never been allowed to express her ideas’
‘I was allowed to leave work early yesterday’
‘We weren’t allowed to go into the control room’

CERTAINTY, PROBABILITY and POSSIBILITY

must, may, might, could, can’t
We use these modals to say that something is certain, probable, possible,
improbable or impossible.

* CERTAINTY
must (deu ser…, deu estar…etc)
We use must when we think/realize that something is actually true, when we are
quite sure about something:
‘She isn’t answering the phone. She must be out’
‘I had my keys a moment ago. They must be here somewhere’
can’t (no pot ser..., no pot estar...etc)
We use can’t when we think that something is impossible or very improbable,
when we are sure that NO:
‘We have only walked 10 minutes. You can’t be tired yet!’
‘Life can’t be easy when you’re on a wheelchair’

* PROBABILITY or POSSIBILITY
may / might (potser..., tal volta...etc)
We use may or might to say that something is possible or quite probable:
‘They may come if the weather improves’
‘I might go to the disco tomorrow’
‘Whose bag is this?’ ‘I don’t know. It might belong to Maria’

3
The negative forms of may and might remain MAY NOT and MIGHT NOT. They
are used to say that somehing negative is possible (potser no, tal volta no...):
‘Daniel may not get the job’
‘I might not be invited to their wedding’
could (podría ser...etc)
We use could to say that something is possible but not very probable:
‘His story could be true, I suppose...’
‘You could win a million pounds at the lottery’
(it’s possible but not likely)
(Nevertheless, differences between may, might and could are slight and in some
situations we can use them indistinctly:
‘It may / might / could rain later’)

OBLIGATION
must, have to (haver de, deure, caldre...)
* Must and have to can be considered full synonyms, although there’s an
exclusive use of must for ‘moral’ orders (things we think we must do):
‘Passengers must / have to show their tickets at the entrance’
‘Their parents said: “You must / have to be in bed by nine o’clock”’
but ‘I’m leaving college soon. I must think about my future’ (moral order)
* MUST is completely invariable and we will only use it in present.
* HAVE TO (which is not a modal verb) must be conjugated and can be used in
all verbal tenses:
- present: have to, has to  ‘Mark has to repair his car. The brakes don’t work’
- past: had to  ‘Sally had to go to the dentist yesterday’
- future: will have to  ‘That wasn’t good. We’ll have to do it better next
time”
- pres. perfect: have had to  ‘John has had to drive all the way from Glasgow’
(etc.)
* The negative and interrogative of have to are built with the auxiliary do:
don’t have to NOT haven’t to
didn’t have to NOT hadn’t to
we’ll see negative examples next, here are some interrogative examples:
‘Why does Andrew have to study every morning?’
‘Did you have to pay for your second coffee?’ ‘No, I didn’t’

4
ATTENTION!!
While the affirmative meanings of must and have to are almost the same, their
negatives are VERY different:
* mustn’t  PROHIBITION  no has de, està prohibit...
* don’t have to  ABSENCE OF OBLIGATION  no fa falta, no
cal (ara bé, si vols...)

‘You mustn’t talk when the teacher is explaining’

‘You mustn’t smoke in public buildings’
‘I mustn’t forget my key or I won’t get in’

‘You don’t have to come to my party if you don’t want’

‘Mike doesn’t have to finish the report today. He can do it at the weekend’
‘We didn’t have to pay for the food. It was free’

NECESSITY
need
* Form:
Need (the same as dare) is a very special verb. It is called a ‘semi-modal’,
because it can take both the form of an invariable modal verb or a conjugated
verb with TO. As a modal, it is only used in negative and interrogative sentences
and only in British English. These are all its possible forms:
- affirmative  need to (not modal)
- negative  needn’t (modal) or don’t need to (not modal)
- interrogative  need you...? (modal) or do you need to...? (not modal)
(in past and all other tenses we’ll use the conjugated form: didn’t need to... etc)
* Meaning:
- affirmative: és necessari, cal... (very similar to ‘moral’ must)
- negative: no cal, no fa falta… (synonym of don’t have to)
* Examples:
- aff: ‘You need to study harder if you want to pass’
‘The Government needs to find a solution to violence in schools’
- neg: ‘You needn’t wash those glasses. They’re clean’ =
‘You don’t need to wash those glasses. They’re clean’ =
‘You don’t have to wash those glasses. They’re clean’
- int: ‘Do you need to do this now?’ = ‘Need you do this now?’
- past: ‘We didn’t need to go shopping because we had plenty of food’

5
ADVICE and RECOMMENDATIONS
should, ought to (deuria, deuríem, hauries de...etc)
There is no difference in meaning between should and ought to. They are used to
say what is right or not to do, that is, to give advice and make recommendations:
‘You don’t look like well. Perhaps you should see a doctor’
‘Your uncle was very kind to me. I ought to write him a letter of thanks’
Their negative forms are shouldn’t and ought not to (oughtn't to not frequent):
‘You shouldn’t be late on your first day at work’
‘People ought not to break their promises’
We can also use them in interrogative to ask for advice:
‘Where should I put this picture, what do you think?’
‘It’s a difficult problem. How ought we to deal with it?’

had better (serà millor que...)

This fixed expression followed by infinitive without TO is also used to give
advice, express intentions and make warnings:
‘It’s cold. The children had better wear their coats’
‘My wife is waiting for me. I had better not be late’

OFFERS, SUGGESTIONS, REQUESTS and INVITATIONS

* Requests
To make requests we use can and could (+polite):
‘Can everyone be quiet for a minute, please?’
‘Could you lend me one pound until tomorrow?’
‘Could you explain that exercise again, please?
* Suggestions
Apart from expressions that we already know such as LET’S or WHY DON’T
WE...?, we can make suggestions using the modal shall in 1st person plural:
‘It’s a lovely day. Shall we go for a walk?’
* Offers and invitations
Although there are other formulae, the most common way to make offers and
invitations is with the modal would and the verb like  would you like...?
‘Would you like something to drink?’ (offer)
‘Would you like to have lunch with us?’ (invitation)
Also shall in 1st person  ‘Shall I call a taxi for you?’

6
 MODAL PERFECTS

Modal + HAVE + participle

They maintain the same meaning but refer to the past. They are used to speculate
about events from the past. These are the main modal perfects in English:

* MUST HAVE + participle

Logical conclusion about the past. Certainty that something was true or happened
in the past:

‘My watch says it’s only ten past two. It must have stopped’
'The lights are off. They must have gone out'

* CAN’T / COULDN'T HAVE + participle

Certainty that something wasn't true or didn't happen in the past (the opposite of
must have)
‘It can’t have been Jack who did it. He was with me all the time’
'They had very little time. They couldn't have finished everything”

* MAY / MIGHT / COULD HAVE + participle

Expresses uncertainty about the past. A past possibility (something that could be
true...or not)
‘It may have worked if we had tried harder’
‘You might have left your keys at work’
‘Someone could have stolen them...’

Also a negative possibility: ‘I might not have locked the door’

* COULD HAVE + participle

Ability to have done something that finally wasn't done:

'She could have run faster, but she wanted to save energy'

'With the lottery prize, we could have bought a car'

7
* SHOULD / OUGHT TO HAVE + participle
Criticism or regret about something from the past. It can be either about
something good that didn't happen or something wrong you did.
‘Sorry, I should have drawn you a map’
'You ought to have gone to the doctor sooner!'
‘It was a pretty old building. They shouldn’t have knocked it down’
'I shouldn't have eaten that last cookie'

* NEEDN'T HAVE + participle

Unnecessary past action (we did something although it wasn't necessary to be

done)

'You needn't have made all that food. It'll be left over'

* WOULD HAVE + participle

Used for third conditional sentences. A past condition that wasn't carried out.

'I would have visited you if I hadn't forgotten your address'

*** THE END ***