Modal Words and

Phrases
 Modals are used to express the
speaker's judgement concerning
the action/event or object in the
utterance/ sentence.

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These
words/phrases in
English and
Ukrainian are as
follows:
certainly, indeed, maybe, perhaps,
possibly, probably, of course, no
doubt - певне, напевне, звичайно,
може, можливо, безумовно,
безсумнівно and others.

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Modals are traditionally
classified as follows:
Modal words/phrases
expressing various shades of
certainty
certainly, of course, surely,
assuredly, indeed,
undoubtedly, really (певне,
напевне, звичайно,
безперечно, безумовно,
зрозуміло, правда)
"Sure, he's a bum". (Caldwell)
Безперечно, він волоцюга.
Modal words expressing
various degrees of
probability
maybe, perhaps, possibly,
probably (може, можливо,
мабуть, ймовірно, видно,
здається)
"They'll probably come
through it all right".
(Hemingway)
Ну, можливо вони якось
переживуть артобстріл.
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And some more …
Modal words expressing
various shades of
desirability
fortunately, unfortunately,
which have a restricted
number of semantic
equivalents in Ukrainian (на
щастя, на жаль, шкода)
"You are wrong,
unfortunately".
На жаль, ти неправий.
Modal words expressing
doubt, uncertainty and
coinciding in form with the
modal words denoting
probability
maybe, perhaps, probably
(може, можливо, мабуть)
"Maybe it's not yet time...? "
(Caldwell)
Може, ще не настав час?
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The subjective and objective
attitude of the speaker …
… towards an event/action may often be expressed by several
other parenthetic words and phrases which may point:
× to the authorship of the idea/assertion expressed in the
sentence, e.g.: they say, as reported, to my mind (кажуть, як
повідомляють, на мою думку) etc.;
× to words/phrases expressing an estimation of the expressed
idea in the sentence, e.g.: shortly speaking, generally
speaking (коротко кажучи, відверто кажучи) etc.;
× to words pointing to the order or succession of ideas
expressed in the sentence, e.g.: firstly, secondly, on the
contrary (по-перше, по-друге, навпаки) etc.

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 Modals, like statives, may
acquire meaning in the sentence
ADVERBS STATIVES
really, probably, чутно, видно (in
fortunately справді, Ukrainian)
очевидно, дійсно

it seems, you see,

in one's view, in one's
здається, бачите, як
opinion, to one's
бачите, кажуть (both
judgment, на мою
in English and
думку, на мій погляд
Ukrainian)
NOUNS
WITH/WITHOUT VERBAL PHRASES
PREPOSITIONS AND SENTENCES

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Position
One more common feature of modals in the contrasted
languages is their position in the sentence.
Most of them may occupy any position according to the
emphasis they are given by the author/speaker.
• Perhaps he will come. (Можливо, він прийде.)
• He will, perhaps, come. (Він, можливо, прийде)
• He will come, perhaps.(Він прийде, можливо).
Modals may also be used in both contrasted languages as
elliptical answers to some utterances.
"Maybe we better," Tad said. (Saroyan)
"Може й так,"- сказав Тед.

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Thank you for
your attention!
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