Modal verbs are used to express abilities, possibilities, permissions, obligations, and other auxiliary meanings. They behave differently than normal verbs in that they are always followed by a base verb form and do not take an 's' in the third person present simple. Different modal verbs express different meanings, such as can/could for ability, may for permission or possibility, might for lesser possibility, should for advice or suggestion, must for strong obligation, and mustn't for prohibition. Their meanings and substitutes, like will for future certainty, are important to understand as modal verbs cannot be used in all tenses.

1. Modals

2. What are They ?
can
could
may might
must
should
will
shall
would
We use Modal verbs to talk about an ability/a duty/
a need /a necessity/wanting

3. What is special about them?
Modal verbs behave very differently
from normal verbs.
Here are some important differences:

4. How?
1. Modal verbs are always followed by a verb in
its base form.
EXAMPLES:
He can speak Chinese.
You may take the book to school.
She may take the book to school.

5. 2. Modal verbs do not take "-s" in the third
person in the present simple.
EXAMPLES:
• He can speak Chinese. (NOT- He cans speak…)
• She may eat a sandwich at 9:30.
How?

6. Modal Verbs and their substitutes
• Many modal verbs cannot be used in
all of the English tenses. That's why
we need to know their meaning and
the substitute for these modal verbs.

7. will- will not - won’t
We use these modals to speak about
future actions that we are sure/
convinced about.

8. will- will not(=won’t)
Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow will
be Wednesday.
= I know it because this is a known fact.
We won’t be in the office
tomorrow.
= I know it because he is going on vacation.

9. will- will not(=won’t)
I will come to school early
tomorrow.
= I am sure about my future action.

10. Can – Could –Be able to
We use these modals to express:
• General ability/ disability
• possibility / impossibility
• opportunity
• Permission
• request

11. Can
I can walk.
= I have the general ability to do
the action of walking.
I can’t hear you, it is too noisy.
=I don’t have the ability to hear what you are
saying because of the noise.

12. Can Could
In the past, can changes to could.
He could speak only Hebrew when
he was a kid. He couldn’t speak to
his neighbor who speaks only English.
(General ability)
Practice time-can/could

13. may
=future possibility/get
permission/give permission

14. may
• I may choose to wear the red dress to the party.
=I have two dresses. There is a chance that I
will choose to wear the red dress and not the
blue one.
• Today, he may come on time.
=Although usually he comes late,
There is a possibility that today he will come
on time.

15. may
• May I come to visit you at 5 o’clock?
=get permission
• You may take only one candy.
=give permission

16. might
=lesser degree of
possibility or certainty

17. might
• We may come on time, but if you miss the bus, we
might be late.
=I plan to come on time and this is why I I want to
catch the 7:15 bus.
If I catch the 7:30 bus, I can come on time or not,
I’m not sure.
• If you advertise on the Internet you might get a lot
of spam to your e-mail box.
=Although you don’t want to get spam, there’s a
risk that you will get it.

18. should
= advice or a strong
suggestion.

19. • If you want to be a champion you should practice
every day.
• When you make a cheese cake, you should first
check that you have cheese.

20. must - mustn’t
Must – very strong advice/ obligation
Mustn't – things you're not allowed to do.‫אסור‬

21. • She is sick. She has high fever. She must
take a pill.
= very strong advice/ obligation
• You mustn’t ride your bike without a
helmet!
= you're not allowed to do.

22. 1.There are plenty of tomatoes in the
fridge. You ___________ buy any.
2.This is a hospital.
You __________ smoke here.
3.I __________ speak Arabic fluently
when I was a child and we lived in
Morocco. But after we moved back to
Canada, I had very little exposure to the
language and forgot almost everything I
knew as a child. Now, I just say a few
things in the language.
4.The teacher said we __________ read
this book for our own pleasure as it is
mustn’t
mustn’t
could
should

23. 5. ___________you stand on your head for
more than a minute? No, I ____________ .
6. Take an umbrella. It ___________ rain
later.
7. Drivers ___________ stop when the
traffic lights are red.
8.
Can
can’t
might
should
must