MODAL VERBS

BASIC A2
 ●ONLY USED IN PRESENT TENSE
●FOLLOWED BY INFINITIVE
WITHOUT “TO” (CAN SPEAK,
MODAL
SHOULD VISIT, ETC.)
VERBS
●THEY DO NOT NEED AN AUXILIARY
VERB IN NEGATIVE SENTENCES
AND QUESTIONS.
GIVING ●You should invite Fiona.
ADVICE - ●You shouldn’t invite Fiona.
SHOULD / ●Should I invite Fiona?
SHOULDN’T ●Yes, you should./ No, you shouldn’t.
 ●You could do more exercise.
OTHER
WAYS TO ●With imperatives: Wash the dishes. / Don’t be
noisy.
GIVE
● With have to (stronger): You have to study
ADVICE harder.
EXPRESSING
OBLIGATIO ●You must be punctual.
N - MUST
 ●The students have to wear a uniform.
●Do the students have to wear a uniform?
HAVE TO - Yes, they do. / No, they don’t.
OBLIGATIO
N ●You’ll have to take the next train.

●I had to wear a tie when I worked for a bank.

 ●I need to wear a mask at work.

NEED TO -
●Little children don’t need to wear a face mask.
OBLIGATIO
N
●Does everyone need to wear a mask to stay
safe?
EXPRESSING
LACK OF
●You don’t have to finish the report by
OBLIGATIO Wednesday.
N WITH ●Lisa doesn’t have to start work at 8am.
DON’T
HAVE TO
 ●You can’t park here.
EXPRESSNG
PROHIBITIO ●You mustn’t use your phone in class.
N
●You mustn’t smoke in hospitals.
IMPORTANT
IMPORTANT
EXPRESSING
●You can park here.
PERMISSION
 ●I can play the piano.
EXPRESSING
ABILITY ●I can’t speak Japanese.
AND
POSSIBILITY ●Can you cook paella?
- present
●Yes, I can. / No, I can’t.
 ●I could play the piano when I was twelve.

EXPRESSING
●I couldn’t speak Japanese although I lived in
ABILITY Tokyo.
AND
POSSIBILITY ●Could your grandfather cook paella?
- past
●Yes, he could. / No, he couldn’t.
 ● I am able to meet you anytime next week.

EXPRESSING ● I wasn’t able to swim when I was a child.

ABILITY –
be able to ● Will you be able to pick me up at the airport?
Yes, I will. / No, I won’t.
 ●You know we use the modal verb “can” in
questions to ask for permission:
Can I go to the toilet, please?
-Yes, you can. / - No, you can’t.

ASKING FOR
●But if you want to be more formal you can also
PERMISSION use “could” or “may”:
-Could I go to the toilet, please?
-May I go to the toilet, please?
 ● We have studied modal verbs to talk about ability and possibility
(can, could)
● We have studied modal verbs to talk about obligation (must)
● We have studied modal verbs to talk about prohibition (mustn’t,
Modal verbs - can’t)
● We have studied modal verb to give advice (should)
revision
● ALL MODAL VERBS ARE FOLLOWED BY AN INFITINITVE
WITHOUT TO. For example:
You must behave at school.
We should pay attention to punctuation.
 ● When describing a picture, we learnt that we can use “could” to talk
about a possibility.
People are wearing summer clothes, so it could be a warm day.
May and might
to talk about
possibility ● But we can also use the modal verbs “may” and “might” when the
possibility is more remote.
The woman is holding a map, so she may/might be a tourist.