Modal Verbs

Obligation, necessity, prohibition, certainty,

possibility, advice, permission, ability.

Certainty: MUST

Affirmative in the present:

“John has lived in England all his life, He MUST speak English really well”

Affirmative in the past:He MUST HAVE gone. (estoy seguro de que él

se ha marchado)

Certainty: CAN´T

“You CAN’T be tired you’ve been sleeping for 12 hours”

“You CAN’T HAVE seen my sister she lives in Madrid”

(es imposible que…)

Possiblity: may,might,could.

I’m not sure…..

“This summer I maymay (might/could) (not) go to England”

“It´s 2 o’clock he may (might/could) (not) may (might/could) (not) havehave arrived home. Let’s phone him”

Possibility in the past

May, might, could+HAVE+ PARTICIPLE

“ He may have gone out somewhere”

Obligation: MUST vs HAVE TO in the present

Must:Must: Personal Obligation/Obligation that comes from the speaker.

“I must go to the dentist”

“You must do your homework for every monday”

Must ≠Mustn’t

Mustn’t= Prohibition

Danger

“You mustn’t touch electrical appliances with wet hands”

To negate sth personal:Needn’t

“You needn’t wash the dishes I’ll do it later”

( no es necesario)

“ You needn’t ask me if you want to use the phone”

HAVE TO

Have toHave to: Legal Obligation /Obligation that comes from a 3rd person.

“Every citizen has tohas to pay taxes”

(es obligatorio)

Don’t have to (lack of legal Obligation)

No es obligatorio.

“In Spain you don’t have todon’t have to have a licence to own a cat”

Obligation in the future & past

Future:

“I’ll have to go to the dentist”

Past:

“I had to go to the dentist”

Advice

• Should

• Ought to

• ‘d better

“You should / ought to / ‘d better visit your grandparents more often”

Ability: CouldCould vs Was/were able toWas/were able to

In the past:

“When he was five he couldcould speak 3 languages”

(General Ability)

“I didn’t have the keys but I was able towas able to enter the house”

(Particular ability= manage to)

Present, future & perfect tenses.

Puedo: I can = I am able to

Podré: I will be able to

He podido: I have been able to

Permission

Informal Can I …….. ?

May I …….?

Formal Could I…….?

I wonder if I could….?

….leave early today

Be supposed to/Had better

• Be supposed to:– rule – or expected.

“Come on, it's 10 O’clock. You're supposedsupposed toto be in bed!”

• Had better + infinitive without to:

– you should do because you think it's a good idea.

“You'd better ask your dad before you borrow the car.”

Permission: be allowed to

• To express permission it is possible to use can, may (more formal) or be allowed to.

• In the negative these express lack of permission, or prohibition.

“You can order another drink but you can't have any more chips.

“We aren't allowed to aren't allowed to wear trainers to school.

To express permission

• May is not possible in the past.

• Could and be allowed to are possible for general permission.general permission.

“In my last job we had flexitime so we couldcould arrive more or less when we wanted to.

• Could is not used when referring to a particular situation in the past.

• Only be allowed to be allowed to is possible.

“I was allowed to stay up late last night.”

Let and make + Inf sin toTo be allowed to

• Let is used to express permission and is not normally used in the passive.

“My dad never lets me watch that programme.”

• Be allowed to is used instead.

“I wasn't allowed to go to the party alone.”

Make is used to express obligation.

“The teacher made her do some extra homework.”

• In the passive, make is followed by the infinitive with to.

“He was made to pay for the window he had broken.”