MODAL VERBS: All you need to know about CAN, COULD, MAY, MIGHT, MUST, SHOULD, SHALL, WILL and WOULD

there are nine words in the English language that cause my students so much grief suffering anxiety they are modal verbs they are can could May might must shall should will and would the stress stops here in this lesson you are going to learn all about out their different functions you are going to see loads and loads of examples to help solidify your understanding we are going to solve all the problems you have with these modal verbs once and for all that's my promise to you we're going to look at the theory we're going to look

at examples and we're going to test your understanding with two quizzes that I've inserted into the video and if that wasn't enough I've also created a PDF modal verbs study guide you can download it for free it contains all of the information we're going to cover together plus lots of alternatives to these modal verbs like have to and be able to but wait there's more this PDF study guide also contains a secret link to some interactive exercises for you to check your understanding yes it's a lot yes it's generous and yes you are very very

welcome if you would like to download this PDF study guide all you've got to do is click on the link in the description box or scan that QR code there enter your name email address and choose your English level sign up to my mailing list and then the PDF will arrive directly in your inbox and then after that you will have joined my PDF Club you will automatically receive all of my free weekly PDFs alongside all of my news course updates and offers it's a free service you can unsubscribe at any time with just one

click I need to calm down as you can tell I am very excited about this topic let's get started by talking about form and I have some really good news the models that we're talking about in this video have one form this is so rare in English just one form nothing more the base form that you see in the dictionary we don't add ing so it's always could never coulding we don't add Ed so it's always must never must did and we don't add s in the third person singular so it is always should never

shoulds these pure modals are followed by another verb not a modal in the base form so they're not followed by a two infinitive for example I might bake a cake later modals will sometimes appear alone when we don't want or need to repeat a previous verb for example I'm going to jump the Q no you can't no you can't jump the Q is there anything more British than that example we love Keys We form questions by inverting the subject modal verb word order we don't use do or did for example can I help you or

should I dye my hair green I bet you're thinking no you shouldn't which brings me to negative forms we form negatives by adding not could not should not Etc cannot is different as it is one word in the negative we often use contractions can't won't but note that we don't usually contract may not Mt as great as it sounds does exist but it isn't common at all okay are you ready to dive into our nine modal verbs we're going to talk about the most typical and most useful ways we use these verbs let's start with

can we use can to talk about present ability I can speak Spanish now did you hear that I use used the weak form can with awah not the strong form can with an a sound we often use the weak form in statements and questions I can speak Spanish here's an example using knowability I can't speak Spanish notice the pronunciation difference between can with a short a which is the pronunciation we use in short answers I can and can't with the long a sound this is in my accent modern RP in other Regional dialects or in

North American English it's different moving on we use can to ask for and give permission can I have pizza for breakfast and we use can't to refuse permission no you can't we also use can to make requests can you make me a pizza and we can use can to talk about General possibilities for example it can be cold and rainy in the UK in March it's not always cold and rainy but it is sometimes we use can't to make deductions when we're sure something is not true or not happening for example Ellen can't be Tim's

sister he doesn't have a sister now let's continue that thought with a different modal verb Ellen could be Tim's cousin he has about 10 am I sure no but it's a decent guess based on some evidence I have we use could to make deductions when we think something is possible but we're not certain how else do we use could well it's pretty similar to can in many ways you know that we use can to talk about present ability we use could to express past ability I could see perfectly when I was younger now now I'm

as blind as a bat that's a common simile meaning you can't see very well could expresses General ability in the past you can use was or were able to or managed to to talk about something that was possible on a specific occasion in the past see the PDF for a couple more examples we also use could to make requests it's more formal and more polite than can for example excuse me could you help me look for my glasses I can't see a thing without them and we use could to talk about things that are possible

in the present or future my glasses could be in my bag it's like a black hole in there okay another modal verb with similar functions might in formal language we use might to make requests might I borrow your umbrella for a moment now this isn't really common in everyday speech can or could are used much more often we use might to make deductions when we're not sure we can use all of our models of deduction to talk about the past as well as the present and future the structure to talk about the past is modal

Plus have Plus past participle an example where's the fish we're having for dinner not sure the cat might have eaten it and we can use might plus base verb to talk about things that are possible in the present or future I might not go to Spain this summer and I might head to Italy to practice my Italian instead okay that sounds really nice brilliant so are there any other ways to talk about possibility yes we may have to reschedule the meeting if the boss doesn't arrive soon now do you think May is more or less

formal than might or could it is more formal we also use May to ask for permission and again it's quite formal an example may I use the conference room to make a personal call even more formally we use May to give and refuse permission yes you may no you may not and we use May to make deductions about things we think are probably true but we're not sure for example oh dear the boss looks annoyed she may not be happy that we canceled the meeting or she may just be annoyed that we ate all the

donuts who knows note that we tend to use might more often in speech okay that's clear but what if we're sure something is true we might say something like this the boss must be annoyed that we canceled the meeting because she came all the way from Berlin we use mus to make deductions when we are certain about something and remember when making deductions the opposite of must is can't not must not when we're unsure we use May might and could now are there any other ways we use must yes we use must to talk about

obligations often things we think are important for us to do and these are often called internal obligations because I think it's important to do it I must call my dad later it's his birthday and we use must and mustn't notice the pronunciation there I don't pronounce the first T mustn't to talk about rules and laws let's imagine we're going to the cinema you must put your phone on silent mode while the film is playing or you mustn't talk loudly during the film we can also use must to make strong suggestions you must try the cheddar

jalapeno popcorn it's delicious we stress the modal verb with this meaning you must try it the Flappy hand is optional but I like it for emphasis you must try it note that we don't usually stress modals in the present you must try it is an exception okay let's pause here for a moment and check what you've learned so far with a little quiz complete the sentences with the modal verb that best fits the Gap and don't forget to conjugate it ah that was a trick we're not changing the modal verbs here we use their base

form to make things even trickier sometimes more than one verb is possible ready one when I was at school I speak French fairly well have a little think this is a past ability so the answer is could number two I'm sure it be difficult for English speakers to learn Mandarin this is a deduction and I'm sure it is true so the answer is must number three try watching your favorite kramas in Korean you learn a bit of the language number three Express is a possibility and three options could fit the Gap you could say might

you could also say May and you could also say could number four you teach me a few phrases in Arabic this is a request and there are two possibilities you could say can or could could now do you remember which one is more formal it's could okay last question now and then we'll move on to the next part of the lesson number five I really tidy the kitchen this afternoon it's such a mess this is something I think I really need to do so it is an internal obligation must best completes the Gap how did

you do keep a note of your score as we're going to do another little quiz later and then you can share it in the comments section but for now we have four more modal verbs to go we're over halfway there before the quiz we were talking about how to use must now we're looking at should and it's used similarly to Must In some ways though it's less strong we use should to talk about obligations and the right or wrong thing to to do for example you should always wear your seat belt on the plane or

we shouldn't call Sarah now it's after midnight we also use should to make suggestions and give and ask for advice for example you look exhausted you should take a nap or should we get a taxi to the airport another way we use should is to express expectations for example the flight should be on time or shouldn't Alice be here by now she said she'd be arriving an hour ago we can also make suggestions using shall and this modal verb is one that really tends to confuse my students don't worry I'll sort it out for you

we usually use shall with I and we for example shall we go to the beach today we can also ask for advice what shall we do with all the sandwiches we didn't eat and we use shall to make offers shall I help you with them now here's an important note used like this shall is fairly common in British English but it's not that common in North American English speakers of that variety often use should or another verb instead let's stick with offers now and look at our next verb and also the name of my husband

will an example I'll drive tomorrow so so you can enjoy the views that is something will would say I hate driving in spoken sentences we almost always contract will to all apostrophe LL and will not to won't we also use will or won't to make promises I won't be late to pick you up I promise we use it to make statements and predictions about the future the hike will be stunning in this gorgeous sunshine and what about this sentence here what's the function will you pack us some snacks please Yep this is a request we

use will to make requests okay are you still with me can we talk about our final modal verb would note the pronunciation there I don't pronounce the L uh would would now like will we use would to make requests but which one is more polite and Less Direct listen to these two examples will you pass me the map would you pass me the map I might have given you a clue with my body language would is more polite we can also use would to give advice for example if I were you I'd turn the map

around you've got it the wrong way up now this sentence also demonstrates another use of wood expressing a hypothetical situation we we can use would to talk about hypothetical situations in the present past or future an example so what would you do if I said we were lost and finally would is used as the past form of will in indirect speech for example direct speech will find the PATH again I promise indirect speech he promised that we would find the PATH again okay shall we do one more short quiz just three questions this time and

then you can share your score in the comments section you ready what is the function of the modal verb in these sentences one are you coming for dinner tomorrow I'll make sure there's a vegetarian option is it a request or a promise it's a promise number two I'd make a dessert if I had more time what is the function fun of would here to express a hypothetical situation or to make a request yes it is a hypothetical situation and finally you should ask Pete to make his famous trifle is this advice or an expectation it

is advice trifle is always a classic so how did you do add your score from before and let me know in the the comments I really hope you feel more confident about using models now and remember I have created your free pdf moduls study guide just click on the link in the description box or scan the QR code here if you'd like to download that remember you get a link to a secret interactive exercise pack too so you can really practice what you've learned thank you so much for being my student today it was a

pleasure to teach you and I'll see you in the next lesson [Music] [Music]