2a.

PRIMARY AUXILIARY AND MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS

Primary auxiliary verbs DO, BE, HAVE

DO

Do is auxiliary as well as lexical verb (What have you been doing today?) The auxiliary do:

1. It is used to make negatives of all the lexical verbs in the Present Simple and the Past
Simple: (I don’t understand it. He doesn’t understand it. He didn’t see me.)

2. It forms the question of all the lexical verbs in the above two tenses (Do you understand?
Did he see you? Didn’t he see you? When did it happen?)

The question is formed without do if the question word is the subject of the clause and the
clause is positive with interrogative pronouns who, what, which, how many, how much etc.
(Who saw you? What causes this change? How many people help you?) But with question
words as objects, do must be used. (Who did you see? What does this change cause? How
many people do you help?)

3. In a positive non-interrogative clause, do can be used to emphasize the lexical verb. (But I
did tell him all.)

4. Do stands for lexical verbs in short answers (Yes, I do.) or is used to avoid the repetition
of the same verb (He left school one year earlier than I did.) or replaces lexical verbs in tag
questions (She works in a lab, doesn’t she?)

HAVE

Both as lexical verb (I have a car = meaning of possession.) and as auxiliary as:

1. Used in the Present Perfect and Past Perfect (He has just come. Had not known about it.)
and the question is formed by means of inversion (Has he come already?)

2. Have + to + infinitive means MUST. (I have to go.)

3. Auxiliary do with have is used with the lexical have if it denotes habitual or repeated
actions (Do you often have headaches? But! Have you got a headache now?) in the meaning
of must (Did you have to wait?) in the construction to have something done (She didn’t have
her hair cut.) and often in the Past Tense (I didn’t have enough money to buy that book.)

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BE

The lexical and auxiliary verb be is unique among English verbs in having eight different
forms (be, am, is, are, will, been, being…) In its lexical meaning (to exist) the verb be is
frequently used in there is, there are constructions (There are such people.) – the most
important linking verb

1. The construction be + present infinitive expresses the modal meaning of necessary or

possible action (Such examples are to be found everywhere. = Takové příklady se najdou
všude.)

2. The Past Tense of be + past infinitive expresses an intended action in the past which in
fact did not take place (The conference was to have taken place in January= Měla se konat,
ale nekonala se.)

3. Be is used as copula in subject predicates. (He is a dentist. We are ready. I was in the
kitchen.)

4. Be as auxiliary verb assists in forming the progressive aspect in continuous tenses and the
passive voice. (What are you laughing at? One of the pictures was damaged.)

Modal auxiliary verbs

 negation is formed – not

 question is formed by means of inversion (Can I have…?)
 no -s in 3rd person
 followed by bare infinitive (except ought to)

Can/Could

1. Ability (He can speak English. I never could play the banjo.)

2. Permission (Can I smoke in here? Could I smoke in here?)

3. Possibility (Anybody can make mistakes. We could go to the concert.)

May/Might (Present Conditional)

1. Permission (You may borrow my car if you like.)

2. Possibility (The road may be blocked. We might go to the concert.)

3. May can express wish (May he live long!)

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Shall

1. Intention of the speaker (I shan’t be long. We shall overcome.)

2. Insistence (You shall do as I say. He shall be punished.)

Should

1. Advice, suggestion (You should do as he says.)

2. Distant possibility (If you should change your mind, please let us know.)

3. 1st person Conditional in BrE (We should love to go abroad if we had the chance.)

4. After certain expressions (It is odd that you should say this to me.)

Will

1. Willingness (He’ll help you if you ask him.)

2. Polite requests (Will you open the window?)

3. Future tenses (I’ll write as soon as I can.)

4. Prediction about a present action with Future Continuous (John will still be reading his
paper. John asi pořád ještě čte.)

5. Prediction about the result of a past action with Future Perfect (The guests will have arrived
by now.)

Would

1. Polite requests (Would you excuse me?)

2. Characteristic activity in the past (Every morning he would go for a long walk = chodíval)

3. Conditional (He would smoke too much if I didn’t stop him.)

4. Probability (That would be his mother. = patrně bude)

Must

1. Obligation (You must be back by 10 o’clock. (In the past: He had to be back by 10 o’clock.)
There are two negatives (You needn’t be back by 10. You don’t have to be back by 10.)

2. Prohibition (You mustn’t come late.)

3. Logical necessity (There must be a mistake.)

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Note! I must go. = I am obliged to go and I want to go. / I have to go. = I’d rather stay here
but the outer circumstances force me to go.

The probability of the modals

High probability (It must be raining over there. It must have rained over there.)

Low probability (It may be raining over there. It may have rained over there.)

Very low probability (It might be raining over there. It might have rained over there.)

High improbability (It can’t be raining over there. It can’t have rained over there.)

Dare and Need

can be constructed either as modal auxiliaries with bare infinitive or as lexical verbs (odvážit
se and potřebovat) with to-infinitive and with the inflected -s form. (She needn’t rewrite it,
need she? Need she rewrite it? He daren’t ask.)

Semi-modals

Semi-modals are multi-word constructions that function like modal verbs: had better, have to,
be supposed to, be going to (gonna), used to.

Have to

1. Obligation (You have to do it!)

2. Permission (You don’t have to do it.)

Ought to

1. Strong advice, almost obligation (You ought to start at once.) In AmE ought has
occasionally the bare infinitive in negative sentences and questions (You oughtn’t smoke so
much.)

Used to

Used to occurs only in the Past Tense to expresses a repeated action in the past (He used to
earn a lot of money. He didn’t use to earn so much as he does now.)