An Introduction to Past Modals: must have, should have, would have, and could have

So this past week during a live English lesson,

someone asked about past modal verbs.

You know, verbs like must have, should have, would have,

and could have.

And I gave a pretty good answer, I think,

but I also made a note to myself

that I should do a bit of a longer lesson

on those four verbs.

Modal verbs are a little bit tricky to learn,

so in this lesson, I'll give you kind of the basics

for using those past modal verbs.

And I'll try to give you some really good example sentences,

so you can see how they're used.

So welcome to this English lesson about past modal verbs.

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Let's start by talking a little bit about pronunciation.

The correct way to write these would be must have,

should have, would have, and could have.

But as you know,

English speakers like to talk really quickly,

so we normally say must've, should've,

would've, and could've.

Sometimes, you'll even hear people say musta, shoulda,

woulda, and coulda, but that's very, very informal,

but still quite common in spoken English.

If you happen to see must of, or should of, or would of,

or could of, that's actually wrong.

The correct way to make the contraction is must've,

should've, would've, and could've.

So, that's a little bit of information for you

about pronunciation.

Let's move on and start talking

about how to use these past modal verbs.

Let's start by talking about must have.

We use must have when we notice something in the present,

when we see or hear something

and we decide that something else happened

that caused that situation.

We draw a conclusion.

Here are some examples.

I could say this.

There are puddles on the ground,

so it must have rained last night.

If I wanted to say it quickly though, I could say,

There's puddles on the ground,

so it musta rained last night.

I could say,

There's a dent in my car, so someone must have hit it.

I could say,

All of the cookies are gone,

so the kids must have eaten them.

Although in our house, when all the cookies are gone,

it isn't the kids that have eaten them.

You can notice, though, that I am describing a situation,

something that I'm currently seeing

and then I'm drawing a conclusion,

I'm deciding that something else happened

that caused that situation.

Let's talk about should have.

One of the ways I use should have

is to describe a situation I'm in

and then to talk about what I didn't do that resulted in me

being in that situation,

to talk about something that I didn't do in the past

that would've prevented the situation that I'm in.

Here are some examples.

The van is out of gas.

I should've bought gas yesterday.

We're out of milk.

I should've bought milk yesterday.

Or I got a speeding ticket.

I should've driven a bit more slowly.

So you can see I'm describing a situation I'm in,

something that's happening right now,

and then I'm talking about something that I didn't do

in the past, maybe even something I regret,

especially with the speeding ticket example.

I got a speeding ticket.

I should've been driving more slowly.

So when you use should have,

you're talking about a current situation

and then something you didn't do in the past

that maybe you should have done.

Let's talk about would have.

One of the ways we use would have

is to talk about something we didn't do in the past

and then we like to give the reason why we didn't do it

as well.

Here are some examples.

I would've bought you a birthday present,

but I didn't have any money.

Notice I described the situation,

I described the thing I didn't do,

and then I give the reason.

Here are a couple more examples.

I would have loved to go to the concert with you,

but I was too busy.

I would've gone to work, but I was sick.

So in all of these examples,

we mentioned the thing that didn't happen

and then we give the reason why it didn't happen.

This is a great structure for learning how to use would have

when you're learning English.

Let's talk about could have.

One of the ways to use could have is to talk about something

that was a possibility in the past,

but you chose not to do it.

Here are some examples.

I could have bought you flowers, but I didn't feel like it.

I could've gone to the gym, but I wanted to sleep in.

I could've won the game, but I let him win.

Notice in all those situations,

there was a possibility of something happening,

but I chose to do something different.

So it's a little different than would have.

In these situations with could have,

it's based on me choosing to do something

because of how I felt or an action I took.

So, I could have bought her flowers,

but I didn't feel like it.

It's kind of mean, isn't it?

I should have bought her flowers because she's awesome.

Well, thank you for watching this introductory lesson

on how to use some modal verbs in the past.

This is a pretty big topic,

so there's no way that one little lesson like this

will teach you everything you need to know,

but I certainly hope some of the examples I gave

will help you as you continue to learn

and practice your English.

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if this video helped you learn some more English.

And if you have the time,

why don't you stick around and watch another English lesson.

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