MODAL VERBS
BY MÓNICA MEDINA MARÍN
CAN
• Ability to do sth. in the present (substitute form: to be able to) : I can speak English.
• Permission to do sth. in the present (substitute form: to be allowed to) : Can I go to the cinema?
• Request : Can you wait a moment, please?
• Offer : I can lend you my car till tomorrow.
• Suggestion : Can we visit Grandma at the weekend?
• Possibility : It can get very hot in Arizona.
COULD
Ability to do sth. in the past (substitute form: to be able to) : I could speak English.
Permission to do sth. in the past (substitute form: to be allowed to ) : I could go to the cinema.
Polite question * : Could I go to the cinema, please?
Polite request *: Could you wait a moment, please?
Polite offer *: I could lend you my car till tomorrow.
Polite suggestion *: Could we visit Grandma at the weekend?
Possibility *: It could get very hot in Montana.
* no past forms - future forms
BE ABLE TO
• Ability when can cannot be used (e.g., future) : She will be able to pass the exam.
• Ability when can cannot be used (e.g. perfect tenses): They have been able to complete the
crossword.
MAY & MIGHT
MAY
• Possibility : It may rain today.
• Permission to do sth. in the present (substitute form: to be allowed to) : May I go to the cinema?
• Polite suggestion : May I help you?
MIGHT
• possibility (less possible than may) *: It might rain today.
• hesitant offer * : Might I help you?
MUST/ MUSTN´T
MUST
• Force, necessity: I must go to the supermarket today, the fridge is empty.
• Deductions: She got a 9 in Maths. She must be very happy. (She can’t be sad)
• Obligation (speaker’s point of view): You must go to the dentist.
• May / be allowed to when must sounds “too strong”: Guests may not use the pool after 11pm.
Women aren’t allowed to drive in some Arab countries.
MUSTN´T
• Prohibition: You mustn't work on dad's computer.
HAVE TO/ NEEDN´T
HAVE TO
• Obligation (when it comes “from the outside”) : Everybody has to wear the safety belt.
• Don’t / doesn’t have to = it is not obligatory : You don’t have to help tomorrow.
My mother is coming to help me.
NEEDN´T
NOT NECESSARY
Modal verb: I needn't go to the supermarket, we're going to the restaurant tonight.
Ordinary verb: I don’t need to go to the supermarket, we’re going to the restaurant tonight.
SHOULD/OUGHT TO
SHOULD
• Advice: You should drive carefully in bad weather.
• Opinions: You shouldn’t visit María now. She has just come from hospital.
OUGHT TO
• Advice: You ought to drive carefully in bad weather.
Not used in Negative and Interrogative sentences
WILL
• Wish, request, demand, order (less polite than would): Will you please shut the door?
• Prediction, assumption: I think it will rain on Friday.
• Promise: I will stop smoking.
• Spontaneous decision: Can somebody drive me to the station? - I will.
• Habits: She's strange, she'll sit for hours without talking.
SHALL/WOULD
SHALL
• Suggestion/ Offer (instead of will in 1st person): Shall I carry your bag?
WOULD
• Wish, request (more polite than will): Would you shut the door, please?
• Habits in the past: Sometimes he would bring me some flowers.
PERFECT MODALS: (Modal + Present Perfect)
• COULD HAVE + part. : saying that something could have
happened but didn’t happen.
“Peter was lucky. He could have hurt himself when he fell but
he is ok now”.
• COULDN’T/CAN’T HAVE + part. : being certain that something
was not possible in the past.
“We had a really good holiday. It couldn’t have been better”.
• MUST HAVE + part. : being certain that something has happened.
“I have lost one of my gloves. I must have dropped it
somewhere”.
PERFECT MODALS: (Modal + Present Perfect)
• MAY/MIGHT HAVE + part. : possibility in the past
“You may/might have left the bag in the shop”.
• NEEDN’T HAVE + part. : You did something that was not necessary.
“You needn’t have brought anything to my party”.
• OUGHT TO/SHOULD HAVE + part. : when you should have done something.
“You missed a great party last night. You should/ought to have come”.
• WOULD HAVE + part. : imaginary situations in the past.
“I would have phoned Marta, but I didn’t have her number”.
