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

There are 9 words in the English language  that caused 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 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 2 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'll 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. Oh, 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 modals 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 musted. 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  are not followed by a to-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 queue.

No! You can't. No, you can't jump the queue.' Is  there anything more British than that example?  

We love queues. 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'—'mayn't', as great as it sounds,  

does exist, but it isn't common at all. Okay,  are you ready to dive into our 9 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 used the weak form  /kən/ with a schwa. Not the strong  

form can with an /æ/ sound. We often use  the weak form in statements and questions.

'I can speak Spanish.' Here's an example using  no ability—'I can't speak Spanish.' Notice the  

pronunciation difference between 'can' with a  short /æ/, which is the pronunciation we use  

in short answers 'I can'. And 'can't' with  the long /ɑː/ 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  

ten.' 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, 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 'manage 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 modals of  deduction to talk about the past as well as the  

present and future. The structure to talk about  the past is modal + 'have' + past participle.

An example—'Where's the fish we're having for  dinner? Not sure. The cat might've eaten it.'  

And we can use 'might' + 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 doughnuts.'

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 'must' 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 learnt 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. 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,  

1—'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 2—'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 3—'Try watching  your favorite K-dramas in Korean! You _ learn  

a bit of the language.' Number 3 expresses a  possibility and 3 options could fit the gap.

You could say 'might'. You could also say 'may'.  And you could also say 'could'. Number 4— '_ you  

teach me a few phrases in Arabic?' This is a  request, and there are 2 possibilities. You  

could say 'can' or '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 5—'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 comment section.

But for now we have 4 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 do. For example—'You  

should always wear your seatbelt 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 should 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 you can enjoy  the views.' That is something Will would say,  

I hate driving. In spoken sentences, we almost  always contract 'will' to 'll, apostrophe l-l, 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'll be stunning in this gorgeous  sunshine.' And what about this sentence  

here? What's the function? 'Will you pack up  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'—/ʊ/, 'would', 'would'.

Now, like 'will' we use word to make requests  but which one is more polite and less direct?  

Listen to these 2 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  

'would' expressing a hypothetical situation.  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—'We'll 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 3 questions this time and then you can share  your score in the comment section. You ready?  

What is the function of the modal verb in these  sentences? 1—'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 2—'I'd make a dessert  if I had more time.' What is the function 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  comments! I really hope you feel more confident  

about using modals now. And remember, I have  created your free PDF Modals 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  learnt. 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! Muah!