Modal verbs
| modal | meaning |
| can | Ability- Example: I can swim. Permission (informal) – Example: You can go out.; Offers – Example: Can I help you? Requests– Example: Can you open the door, please? Theoretical possibility – Example:It can be really cold in May. |
| could | Past ability – Example: I could swim when I was five. Request (polite)- Example: Could you open the window, please? Suggestion – Example: We could go shopping together. Possibility– Example: He could come to the party. . |
| can’t | Lack of ability – Example: I can’t ski. Prohibition – Example: You can’t smoke here. |
| must | Obligation (we feel it is necessary to do something) – Example: I must get up early on Sunday to finish the project. Strong advice – Example: You must see this. |
| mustn’t | Prohibition Example: You mustn’t take photos in the museum. |
| have to | Obligation coming from outside (rule, regulation etc) Example: All the students at our school have to wear uniforms. |
| Don’t have to | Lack of necessity – Example: I don’t have to get up early at weekends. (but I can do it, it is not prohibited) |
| Should/ ought to | Advice – Example: You should/ought to take vitamin pills. |
| may | Possibility (50%) – Example: We may go to the Bahamas next year. Permission (formal) – Example: You may see the manager now. Request – Example: May I talk to the headmaster, please? |
| might | Possibility (30%) – Example: We might visit the Eiffel Tower next summer. Permission (formal) – Example: You might enter now. Request Example: Might I leave early today? |
| shall | Offer, suggestion – Example: Shall I make you a sandwich? Shall we go to the cinema tonight? |
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