Modal verb

A modal verb (also modal, modal auxiliary verb, modal auxiliary) is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality. The use of auxiliary verbs to express modality is characteristic of Germanic languages.

Function of modal verbs

Modal verbs give additional information about the mood of the main verb that follows it. In other words, they help to incorporate or add the level of necessity: (must = obligation, requirement, no choice); (should = recommendation); (can/could = it is possible); and (may/might = option, choice).

Most modal verbs have two distinct interpretations, epistemic (expressing how certain is the factual status of the embedded proposition) and deontic (involving notions of permission and obligation). The following sentences illustrate the two uses of must:

• epistemic: You must be starving. (= "It is necessarily the case that you are starving.")
• deontic: You must leave now. (= "You are required to leave now.")
• ambiguous: You must speak German.
  • epistemic = "It is surely the case that you speak German (e.g., after having lived in Austria for 10 years)."
  • deontic = "It is a requirement that you speak German (e.g., if you want to get a job in Austria)."

Epistemic modals can be analyzed as raising verbs, while deontic modals can be analyzed as control verbs.

A list of modal verbs

This table lists some modal verbs with common roots in English, German and Dutch. English modal auxiliary verb provides an exhaustive list of modal verbs in English.

The words in this list are not translations of each other! Words in the same row share the same etymological root. But, because of semantic drift, words in the same row may no longer be proper translations of each other. For instance, the German verb "dürfen" is closer in meaning to the English verb "may" than to its cognate "dare".

For German and Dutch, both the plural and singular form of the verb are shown. In English, the plural and singular form are identical.

English	German	Dutch
can	können, kann	kunnen, kan
shall	sollen, soll	zullen, zal
will	wollen, will	willen, wil
must	müssen, muss	moeten, moet
may	mögen, mag	mogen, mag
dare	dürfen, darf	durven, durf

The English could is the past tense of can, should is the past tense of shall and might is the past tense of may. These verbs have acquired an independent, present tense meaning. The German form möchten is sometimes taught as a vocabulary word and included in the list of modal verbs, but it is actually the past subjunctive form of mögen.

The English verbs dare and need have both a modal use (he dare not do it), and a non-modal use (he doesn't dare to do it). The Dutch verb durven is not included in the list because its modal use has disappeared, but it has a non-modal use analogous with the English dare.

Properties of modal verbs

Germanic modal verbs are preterite-present verbs, which means that their present tense has the form of a vocalic preterite. This is the source of the vowel alternation between singular and plural in German and Dutch. Because of their preterite origins, modal verbs also lack the suffix (-s in modern English, -t in German and Dutch) that would normally mark the third person singular form:

	normal verb	modal verb
English	he works	he can
German	er arbeitet	er kann
Dutch	hij werkt	hij kan

The main verb that is modified by the modal verb is in the infinitive form and is not preceded by the word to (German: zu, Dutch: te). There are verbs that may seem somewhat similar in meaning to modal verbs (e.g. like, want), but the construction with such verbs would be different:

	normal verb	modal verb
English	he tries to work	he can work
German	er versucht zu arbeiten	er kann arbeiten
Dutch	hij probeert te werken	hij kan werken

In English, main verbs require the auxiliary verb do to form negations or questions. Modal verbs never use this auxiliary do:

	normal verb	modal verb
affirmative	he tries to work	he can work
negation	he doesn't try to work	he can't work
question	does he try to work?	can he work?
negation + question	doesn't he try to work?	can't he work?

Modal verbs are called defective verbs because of their incomplete conjugation: they have a narrower range of functions than ordinary verbs.

See also

• Grammatical mood
• Linguistic modality
• Preterite-present verb
• Defective verb
• Modal logic

Bibliography

• The Syntactic Evolution of Modal Verbs in the History of English
• Walter W. Skeat, The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology (1993), Wordsworth Editions Ltd.

External links

• Template:Pt icon Modal Verbs