Modal Verbs - Ought to

El verbo 'ought to' es igual al 'should' y expresa una obligación débil. Significa debería,
tendría que.

I ought to - debería / tendría que

Affirmative
• Helen ought to be more careful.
Helen debería tener más cuidado.
• I ought to stay in bed.
Yo debería quedarme en la cama.
• We ought to go together.
Deberíamos ir juntos.
• They ought to be here already.
Ellos ya deberían estar aquí.
• You ought to eat more vegetables.
Deberías comer más vegetales.
• Tom ought to take her home.
Tom debería llevarla a casa.
• It ought to work properly.
(Esto) Debería funcionar correctamente.

Negative
• You ought not to drink so much.
No deberías beber tanto.
• They ought not to go camping without a torch.
Ellos no deberían ir de camping sin una linterna.
• George ought not to wear someone else's glasses.
George no debería usar los anteojos de otra persona.

Interrogative
• Ought Rachel to be here so early?
¿Debería Rachel estar aquí tan temprano?
• Ought they to live there?
¿Deberían ellos vivir allí?

Ought to + have
• You ought to have read the book for today.
Deberían haber leído el libro para hoy.
• They ought to have gone to the supermarket.
Ellos deberían haber ido al supermercado.
• We ought to have listened to the guard.
Deberíamos haber escuchado al guardia.
Modal verbs
The modal verbs include can, must, may, might, will, would, should. They are
used with other verbs to express ability, obligation, possibility, and so on. Below
is a list showing the most useful modals and their most common meanings:

Modal Meaning Example

can to express ability I can speak a little Russian.
can to request permission Can I open the window?
may to express possibility I may be home late.
may to request permission May I sit down, please?
must to express obligation I must go now.
must to express strong belief She must be over 90 years old.
should to give advice You should stop smoking.
would to request or offer Would you like a cup of tea?
would in if-sentences If I were you, I would say sorry.

Modal verbs are unlike other verbs. They do not change their form (spelling) and
they have no infinitive or participle (past/present). The
modals must and can need substitute verbs to express obligation or ability in the
different tenses. Here are some examples:

Past simple Sorry I'm late. I had to finish my math test.

Present perfect She's had to return to Korea at short notice.
Future You'll have to work hard if you want to pass the exams.
Infinitive I don't want to have to go.
Past simple I couldn't/wasn't able to walk until I was 3 years old.
Present perfect I haven't been able to solve this problem. Can you help?
Future I'm not sure if I will be able to come to your party.
Infinitive I would love to be able to play the piano.
Modals are auxiliary verbs. They do not need an additional auxiliary in negatives
or questions. For example: Must I come? (Do I must come?), or: He shouldn't
smoke (He doesn't should smoke).
Modals are different from normal verbs:

1: They don't use an 's' for the third person singular.

2: They make questions by inversion ('she can go' becomes
'can she go?').
3: They are followed directly by the infinitive of another verb
(without 'to').

Probability:
First, they can be used when we want to say how sure we are that
something happened / is happening / will happen. We often call
these 'modals of deduction' or 'speculation' or 'certainty' or
'probability'.
For example:

• It's snowing, so it must be very cold outside.

• I don't know where John is. He could have missed the

train.

• This bill can't be right. £200 for two cups of coffee!

Modal Verbs of Probability

We can use these modal verbs (also called modals of deduction, speculation or certainty)
when we want to make a guess about something. We choose the verb depending on how sure
we are.

1: Talking about the present:

must / might / could / may / can't

• must + infinitive
• might / might not + infinitive
• could / could not + infinitive
• may / may not + infinitive
• can't + infinitive

For example:

I am waiting for Julie with another friend, David.

I ask: 'Where is Julie?'
David guesses:
• She must be on the bus. (I'm fairly sure this is a good guess)
• She might come soon. (maybe)
• She could be lost. (maybe)
• She may be in the wrong room. (maybe)
• She can't be at home. (I'm fairly sure this isn't true)

Notice that the opposite of 'must' is 'can't in this case.

Will / won't
We use will and won't when we are very sure:

• She'll be at work now.

Should / shouldn't
Should and shouldn't are used to make an assumption about what is probably true, if
everything is as we expect:
• They should be there by now.
• It shouldn't take long to drive here.

This use of should isn't usually used for negative events. Instead, it's a better idea to use will:
• The underground will be very busy now (not: 'should be').
Can
Can is used for something that is generally possible, something we know sometimes happens:
• Prices can be high in London.

Can is not used to talk about specific possibilities:

• He could be on the bus (not: 'can be').

2: Using modal verbs to talk about the past:

must / might / could / may / can't + have + past participle

(Click here to review how to make the past participle)
• must have + past participle
• might / might not have + past participle
• could / couldn't have + past participle
• may / may not have + past participle
• can't have + past participle

For example:

You: Where was Julie last night?

David:
• She must have forgotten about our date.
• She might have worked late.
• She could have taken the wrong bus.
• She may have felt ill.
• She can't have stayed at home.

Will / won't + have + past participle

Will and won't / will not + have + past participle are used for past certainty (compare
with present use of 'will' above):
• The parcel will have arrived before now.

Should + have + past participle

Should + have + past participle can be used to make an assumption about something that
has probably happened, if everything is as we expect (compare with present use of 'should'
above):
• The train should have left by now
Could
We can use could + infinitive to talk about a general possibility in the past (compare with
the use of 'can' above):
• Prices could be high in the sixteenth century.

This is not used to talk about specific possibilites in the past (instead we use could + have +
past participle):
• He could have been working late (not: 'could be'. As this is a specific possiblity, 'could
be' is present tense)

Ability
We use 'can' and 'could' to talk about a skill or ability.

For example:
• She can speak six languages.
• My grandfather could play golf very well.
• I can't drive.

When we talk about ability, we mean two things.

First, we mean general ability. This is something that once you have learned you can do any
time you want, like being able to read or swim or speak a language, for example.

The other kind of ability is specific ability. This mean something that you can or can't do in
one particular situation. For example, being able to lift something heavy, or find somewhere
you are looking for.

Present:
can / can't (for both general and specific ability)
• I can play the piano.
• She can speak English.
• He can't drive – he's too tired.
• We can't come now.

Past:
could / couldn't (for general ability)
 • I could read when I was four.
• She could speak French when she was a child, but now she has forgotten it.
• He couldn't dance at all until he took lessons.
• My grandfather couldn't swim.

was able to / couldn't (for specific ability)

• When the computer crashed yesterday, I was able to fix it.(not 'I could fix it')
• She was able to pass the exam, even though she hadn't studied much.(not 'she could
pass')
• He called us because he couldn't find the house.
• I couldn't open the window.

could + have + past participle (an ability someone had in the past, but didn't use)
• I could have played the piano well but I didn't practise enough.
• We could have come earlier.
• She could have studied law, but she preferred to become a secretary.

Future:
will / won't be able to (general ability)
• At the end of the course, you will be able to make your own website.
• He won't be able to speak Japanese in a week! It will take months.

can / can't (specific ability)

• I can help you tomorrow
• I can't come to the party

Obligation and Advice

We can use verbs such as 'must' or 'should' to say when something is necessary or
unnecessary, or to give advice.

For example:
• Children must do their homework.
• We have to wear a uniform at work.
• You should stop smoking.

We can use have to + infinitive, must + infinitive and should + infinitive to express
obligation (something you have to do).

Present Positive Negative

 have to / strong obligation (possibly from no obligation
don't have to outside)
• I don't have to work on
• Children have to go to Sundays.
school.
• You don't have to eat
(sometimes 'have got to') anything you don't like.

must / mustn't strong obligation (possibly based negative obligation

on the speaker's opinion)
• You mustn't smoke here.
• I must study today.

should / mild obligation or advice mild negative obligation or advice

shouldn't
• You should save some • You shouldn't smoke so
money. much.

Be careful about the difference between mustn't and don't have to!
Mustn't means it's not allowed, or it's a bad idea:

• You mustn't eat so much chocolate, you'll be sick

Don't have to means you don't need to do something, but it's fine if you want to do it:
• I don't have to get up early at the weekend(of course, if I want to get up early, that's
fine, but I can stay in bed if I want).

Past Positive Negative

had to / didn't obligation in the past

no obligation in the past
have to
• I had to wear a school
• We didn't have to go to
uniform when I was a
school on Saturdays.
child.

must* changes to 'had to' -

should have + a past action which didn't happen:
pp / shouldn't the advice / regret is too late
have + pp
• You should have gone
to bed earlier, now you
a past action which didn't happen:
the advice / regret is too late
• You shouldn't have taken
that job., it was a bad
 have missed the train. idea.

* Remember 'must have done' is a modal verb of deduction or speculation, not obligation in
the past. For example: Julie must have left. Her coat's not here.

Permission
We can use verbs such as 'can', 'could' and 'may' to ask for and give permission. We also use
modal verbs to say something is not allowed.

For example:

• Could I leave early today, please?

• You may not use the car tonight.
• Can we swim in the lake?

Habits
We can use 'will' and 'would' to talk about habits or things we usually do, or did in the past.

For example:

• When I lived in Italy, we would often eat in the restaurant next to my flat.
• John will always be late!

Past modals
The past modals 'could have + past participle', 'should have + past participle' and 'would have
+ past participle' can be confusing.

Could have, should have, would have

These past modal verbs are all used hypothetically, to talk about things that didn't really
happen in the past.

Could have + past participle

1: Could have + past participle means that something was possible in the past, or you had
the ability to do something in the past, but that you didn't do it.
I could have stayed up late, but I decided to go to bed early.
• They could have won the race, but they didn't try hard enough.
• Julie could have bought the book, but she borrowed it from the library instead.
• He could have studied harder, but he was too lazy and that's why he failed the exam.

Couldn't have + past participle means that something wasn't possible in the past, even if
you had wanted to do it.
• I couldn't have arrived any earlier. There was a terrible traffic jam (= it was impossible
for me to have arrived any earlier).
• He couldn't have passed the exam, even if he had studied harder. It's a really, really
difficult exam.

2: We use could have + past participle when we want to make a guess about something
that happened in the past. In this case, we don't know if what we're saying is true or not true.
We're just talking about our opinion of what maybe happened.

Why is John late?

• He could have got stuck in traffic.
• He could have forgotten that we were meeting today.
• He could have overslept.

We can also choose to use might have + past participle to mean the same thing:
• He might have got stuck in traffic.
• He might have forgotten that we were meeting today.
• He might have got stuck in traffic.

Should have + past participle

1: Should have + past participle can mean something that would have been a good idea,
but that you didn't do it. It's like giving advice about the past when you say it to someone else,
or regretting what you did or didn't do when you're talking about yourself.

Shouldn't have + past participle means that something wasn't a good idea, but you did it
anyway.
• I should have studied harder! (= I didn't study very hard and so I failed the exam. I'm
sorry about this now.)
• I should have gone to bed early (= I didn't go to bed early and now I'm tired).
• I shouldn't have eaten so much cake! (= I did eat a lot of cake and now I don't feel
good.)
• You should have called me when you arrived (= you didn't call me and I was worried. I
wish that you had called me).
 • John should have left early, then he wouldn't have missed the plane (= but he didn't
leave early and so he did miss the plane).

2: We can also use should have + past participle to talk about something that, if
everything is normal and okay, we think has already happened. But we're not certain that
everything is fine, so we use 'should have' and not the present perfect or past simple. It's often
used with 'by now'.
• His plane should have arrived by now (= if everything is fine, the plane has arrived).
• John should have finished work by now (= if everything is normal, John has finished
work).

We can also use this to talk about something that would have happened if everything was fine,
but hasn't happened.
• Lucy should have arrived by now, but she hasn't.

Would have + past participle

1: Part of the third conditional.

• If I had had enough money, I would have bought a car (but I didn't have enough
money, so I didn't buy a car).

The Third Conditional

We make the third conditional by using the past perfect after 'if' and then 'would have' and
thepast participle in the second part of the sentence:

• if + past perfect, ...would + have + past participle

It talks about the past. It's used to describe a situation that didn't happen, and to imagine the
result of this situation.

• If she had studied, she would have passed the exam (but, really we know she
didn't study and so she didn't pass)
• If I hadn't eaten so much, I wouldn't have felt sick (but I did eat a lot, and so I did
feel sick).
• If we had taken a taxi, we wouldn't have missed the plane
• She wouldn't have been tired if she had gone to bed earlier
• She would have become a teacher if she had gone to university
• He would have been on time for the interview if he had left the house at nine

2: Because 'would' (and will) can also be used to show if you want to do something or not
(volition), we can also use would have + past participle to talk about something you
wanted to do but didn't. This is very similar to the third conditional, but we don't need an 'if
clause'.
• I would have gone to the party, but I was really busy.
(= I wanted to go to the party, but I didn't because I was busy. If I hadn't been so busy, I
would have gone to the party.)
• I would have called you, but I didn't know your number.
(= I wanted to call you but I didn't know your number, so I didn't call you.)
• A: Nobody volunteered to help us with the fair
B: I would have helped you. I didn't know you needed help.
(= If I had known that you needed help, I would have helped you.)