Modal verb
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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.
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[edit] Function of modal verbs
Modal verbs (also known as helping verbs or auxiliary 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/need to/have to = obligation, requirement, no choice); (should/ought to = 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.
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[edit] Properties of modal verbs
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.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
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[edit] External links
- (Portuguese) Modal Verbs
