Amodal verb is a type ofverb that contextually indicates amodality such as alikelihood,ability,permission,request,capacity,suggestion,order,obligation,necessity,possibility oradvice. Modal verbs generally accompany the base (infinitive) form of another verb havingsemantic content.[1] InEnglish, the modal verbs commonly used arecan,could,may,might,must,shall,should,will,would, andought.
Modal verbs have a wide variety of communicative functions, but these functions can generally be related to a scale ranging from possibility ("may") to necessity ("must"), in terms of one of the following types of modality:
The following sentences illustrate epistemic and deontic uses of the English modal verbmust:
An ambiguous case isYou must speak Spanish. The primary meaning would be the deontic meaning ("You are required to speak Spanish.") but this may be intended epistemically ("It is surely the case that you speak Spanish").Epistemic modals can be analyzed asraising verbs, while deontic modals can be analyzed ascontrol verbs.
Epistemic usages of modals tend to develop from deontic usages.[4] For example, the inferred certainty sense of Englishmust developed after the strong obligation sense; the probabilistic sense ofshould developed after the weak obligation sense; and the possibility senses ofmay andcan developed later than the permission or ability sense. Two typical sequences of evolution of modal meanings are:
The following table lists English modal verbs and various senses in which they are used:
| Modal verb | Epistemic sense | Deontic sense | Dynamic sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| can | Thatcan indeed hinder. | Youcan, if you are allowed. | Shecan really sing. |
| could | Thatcould happen soon. | – | Hecould swim when he was young. |
| may | Thatmay be a problem. | May I stay? | – |
| might | The weathermight improve. | Might I help you? | – |
| must | Itmust be hot outside. | Sammust go to school. | – |
| shall | Thisshall not be viewed kindly. | Youshall not pass. | – |
| should | Thatshould be surprising. | Youshould stop that. | – |
| will | Shewill try to lie. | – | – |
| would | Nothingwould accomplish that. | – | – |
| ought | Thatought to be correct. | Youought to be kind. |
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Hawaiian Pidgin is acreole language most of whose vocabulary, but not grammar, is drawn from English. As is generally the case with creole languages, it is anisolating language and modality is typically indicated by the use of invariant pre-verbal auxiliaries.[5] The invariance of the modal auxiliaries to person, number, and tense makes them analogous to modal auxiliaries in English. However, as in most creoles the main verbs are also invariant; the auxiliaries are distinguished by their use in combination with (followed by) a main verb.[citation needed]
There are various preverbal modal auxiliaries:Kaen "can",laik "want to",gata "have got to",haeftu "have to",baeta "had better",sapostu "am/is/are supposed to". Unlike in Germanic languages, tense markers are used, albeit infrequently, before modals:Gon kaen kam "is going to be able to come".Waz "was" can indicate past tense before the future/volitional markergon and the modalsapostu:Ai waz gon lift weits "I was gonna lift weights";Ai waz sapostu go "I was supposed to go".[citation needed]
Hawaiian, like thePolynesian languages generally, is anisolating language, so its verbal grammar exclusively relies on unconjugated verbs. Thus, as with creoles, there is no real distinction between modal auxiliaries and lexically modal main verbs that are followed by another main verb. Hawaiian has an imperative indicated bye + verb (or in the negative bymai + verb). Some examples of the treatment of modality are as follows:[6]: pp. 38–39 Pono conveys obligation/necessity as inHe pono i nā kamali'i a pau e maka'ala, "It's right for children all to beware", "All children should/must beware"; ability is conveyed byhiki as inUa hiki i keia kamali'i ke heluhelu "Has enabled to this child to read", "This child can read".
French, like some otherRomance languages, does not have a grammatically distinct class of modal auxiliary verbs and expresses modality using lexical verbs followed by infinitives: for example,pouvoir "to be able" (Je peux aller, "I can go"),devoir "to have an obligation" (Je dois aller, "I must go"), andvouloir "to want" (Je veux aller "I want to go").
Modal verbs inItalian form a distinct class (verbi modali orverbi servili).[7] They can be easily recognized by the fact that they are the only group of verbs that does not have a fixedauxiliary verb for forming theperfect, but they can inherit it from the verb they accompany – Italian can have two different auxiliary verbs for forming the perfect,avere ("to have"), andessere ("to be"). There are in total four modal verbs in Italian:potere ("can"),volere ("want"),dovere ("must"),sapere ("to be able to"). Modal verbs in Italian are the only group of verbs allowed to follow this particular behavior. When they do not accompany other verbs, they all useavere ("to have") as a helping verb for forming the perfect.
For example, the helping verb for the perfect ofpotere ("can") isavere ("have"), as inho potuto (lit. "I-have been-able","I could"); nevertheless, when used together with a verb that has as auxiliaryessere ("be"),potere inherits the auxiliary of the second verb. For example:ho visitato il castello (lit. "I-have visited the castle") /ho potuto visitare il castello (lit. "I-have been-able to-visit the castle","I could visit the castle"); butsono scappato (lit. "I-am escaped", "I have escaped") /sono potuto scappare (lit. "I-am been-able to-escape", "I could escape").
Note that, like in otherRomance languages, there is no distinction between aninfinitive and abare infinitive in Italian, hence modal verbs are not the only group of verbs that accompanies an infinitive (where in English instead there would be the form with "to" – see for exampleHo preferitoscappare ("I have preferred to escape"). Thus, while in English a modal verb can be easily recognized by the sole presence of a bare infinitive, there is no easy way to distinguish the four traditional Italian modal verbs from other verbs, except the fact that the former are the only verbs that do not have a fixed auxiliary verb for the perfect. For this reason some grammars consider also the verbsosare ("to dare to"),preferire ("to prefer to"),desiderare ("to desire to"),solere ("to use to") as modal verbs, despite these always useavere as auxiliary verb for the perfect.[7][citation needed]
Mandarin Chinese is anisolating language without inflections. As in English, modality can be indicated either lexically, with main verbs such asyào "want" followed by another main verb, or with auxiliary verbs. In Mandarin the auxiliary verbs have six properties that distinguish them from main verbs:[8]: pp.173–174
The complete list of modal auxiliary verbs[8]: pp.182–183 consists of
Spanish, like French, uses fully conjugated verbs followed by infinitives. For example,poder "to be able" (Puedo andar, "I can walk"),deber "to have an obligation" (Debo andar, "I must walk"), andquerer "to want" (Quiero andar "I want to walk").
The correct use ofandar in these examples would be reflexive. "Puedo andar" means "I can walk", "Puedo irme" means "I can leave" or "I can take myself off/away". The same applies to the other examples.[citation needed]
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