English B2 blended - Lesson 02

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Modal verbs

A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality – that is, likelihood, ability, permission etc.

With the exception of ought, the modal verbs need the infinitive without to and they cannot be conjugated.

Modal	Use
will	for actions in future
must	for duty
* ought to should	for advices
would	for conditional
may might	for possibilities
could can	for abilities

The next schema shows how the modal verbs indicate too a various rage of permission and obbligation:

Modal	Kind of obbligation/permission
should ought to	mild obbligation
don’t have to	lack of obbligation
allow to	Permission

The costruction of the present is: subjet + modal + infinitive (without to):

I should stop smoking.

Dovrei smettere di fumare.

The costruction of the past is subjet + modal +have + past participle:

Avrei dovuto smettere di fumare.

I should have stopped smoking.

Excercises 

They will follow some examples of traslation from Italian to English.

• Mangerei una pizza. → I would eat a pizza
• Avrei mangiato una pizza. → I would have eaten a pizza.
• Lei sa cantare bene. → She can sing well.
• Lei non ha potuto cantare alla festa. → She could not sing at the party.
• Lei non avrebbe potuto cantare alla festa. → She couldn’t have sung at the party.
• Lui deve risparmiare per comprare casa. → He must (or: has to) save to buy a house.
• Ha dovuto risparmiare tanto per comprare casa. → He had to save a lot of money to buy a house.
• Non è uscito per tre anni, deve aver risparmiato molto. → He didn’t go out for three years, he must have saved a lot!