Modal Verbs

Main Modal Verbs

Present Past & Conditional Translation into Spanish
Can Could Poder / Podía / Podría
(Ser capaz de)

May Might Puede que/ Podría

(Posibilidad)

Shall Should Deber / Debería

(Consejo, confirmación)

Will Would Auxiliar de futuro. E.g: I will work  Trabajaré

Auxiliar de condicional. E.g: I would work  Trabajaría

Must Had To Deber

(Obligación)
 How do they work?
I can drink beer  Puedo beber cerveza
I could drink beer Podía/ Podría beber cerveza (Capacidad)
I shall drink beer Debo beber cerveza
I should drink beer Debo/ Debería beber cerveza
I may drink beer  Puede que beba cerveza
I might drink beer Podría beber cerveza (Posibilidad)
I will drink beer Beberé cerveza
I would drink beer Bebería cerveza
I must drink beer Tengo que beber cerveza
I had to drink beer Tenía que beber cerveza
1. Don’t use the “s” for the 3rd person sing.

He should work harder.  (Él) Debería trabajar más duro

2. The negative of modal verbs is made using not in some cases:

He should not work harder  He shouldn’t work harder

But
He may not work harder  He mayn’t work harder

3. They are followed directly by the infinitive of another verb without “to”:
Mod.Verb (1)+ Infinitive(2)

He can1 work2 harder

 CAN / COULD
CAN :
Affirmative: I can help you  Te puedo ayudar
Negative : I cannot (can’t) help you  No te puedo ayudar
Interrogative: Can I help you?  ¿Puedo ayudarte?

COULD:
Affirmative: I could help you  Podría ayudarte
Negative : I could not (couldn’t) help you
Interrogative: Could I help you?
 MAY / MIGHT
MAY:
Affirmative: I may go to the disco, I need to dance.
Negative : I may not go to the disco, I am punished.
Interrogative: May we go to the disco today?

MIGHT:
Affirmative: He might have gone to the disco today.
Negative : I might not go to the disco.
Interrogative: Might he go to the party?
 SHALL/SHOULD
SHALL:
Affirmative: I shall study  Debo estudiar
Negative :They shall not pass.  ¡No pasarán!
Interrogative: Shall we dance?  Bailamos?

SHOULD:
Affirmative: I should study  Debería estudiar.
Negative : You should not (shouldn’t) drink  No deberías beber
Interrogative: Should I had studied?  Debería haber estudiado?
 WILL/WOULD
WILL (FUTURE):
Affirmative: I will go  Iré
Negative : I will not go  No iré
Interrogative: Will I go  Iré?

WOULD (CONDITIONAL and PAST):

Affirmative: I would go if he wasn’t there  Iría si el no estuviera allí.
Negative : I would not go (wouldn’t) if it wasn’t for him  No iría si no fuese por él.
Interrogative: Would you go there?  ¿Irías allí?
 MUST/HAD TO
MUST:
Affirmative: You must study  Debes estudiar
Negative : You musn’t drink here  No debes beber aquí
Interrogative: Must I come to the doctor  ¿Debo venir al
médico?
HAD TO:
Affirmative: I had to pay the bills  Debía que pagar las facturas.
Negative : I didn’t have to pay the bills  No debía pagar las
facturas.
Interrogative: Did you have to pay the bills ? Debías pagar las
facturas?