Modal VerbsEnglish and Spanish Teacher AMR

The modal verbs are:

can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should and must.

Use

Ability and possibility: can, could, be able to.

Permission: can, could, be allowed to

Possibility: may, might, could

Certainty and deduction: must, can’t

Requests: can, could, would

We use a modal verb with a main verb to express ability, obligation, etc.

We use the infinitive without to after modal verbs: I can speak English. (NOT I can to speak English)

Modal verbs do not add –s after he/she/it::

He can drive. (NOT He cans drive)

In negative sentences and questions, the auxiliary do/does is not necessary:

Could you open the window? (NOT Do you could open the window?)

Modal verbs do not have tense forms. We use other verbs instead:

I wasn’t able to go to the party.

These verbs ad expressions have similar meanings to modal verbs: be able to, have to,

need to, be allowed to, ought to.

We use can to talk about ability and possibility in the present: I can swim. He can’t drive. Can we

bey Stamps here?

Be able to has a similar meaning to can, but is not as common: I’m sorry, I’m not able to take

your call right now.

We use could or was/were able to to talk about general ability and possibility in the past: She could/was able to read by the age of four.

We use can or am/is/are allowed to to talk about things we have permission to do: All

students can/are allowed to use the computers.

We use could or was/were allowed to to talk about permission in the past: We could/were allowed to wear jeans at school. (We had

permission)

We use Can I….? Could I….? To ask someone for their permission. Could is more formal or

polite.

We cannot use Am I allowed to…? To asksomeone for their permission: Can we

borrowyour ladder, please? (NOT Are we allowed to borrow your ladder,please?)

We use may, might or could to talk about actions or events that are possible now or in the

future.

We use may not or might not, but not could not, to say it is possible that an action or event will

not happen now or in the future: They may not come tomorrow. Pete might not be there now.

We use must to say we are sure that something is true now because of what we know: They

own 3 cars. They must have a lot of money.

We use can’t when we think something is impossible now because of what we know: She

can’t be at home. There are no lights on.

We use Can you…? Could you…? And Would you..? to ask somebody to do something.

We use Can in neutral or informal situations. We use Could and Would to be more polite.

Offers and suggestions: will, shall, can, could.

We use I/We will… and Shall I/We…? To offer to do something for somebody.

We can use shall, can and could to suggest something.

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