You have to buy the newspaper – Tú tienes que comprar el periódico.Personal pronoun + Modal verb + Que + Infinitive + Complement Ana must clean her room – Ana debe limpiar su habitación.I can do the homework – Yo puedo hacer la tarea.Personal pronoun + Modal verb + Infinitive + Complement Recommended: How to Learn Spanish Fast in 2023īelow are three common grammatical structures where you will find modal verbs commonly used. In the above example, the answer will reveal what the subject’s desire is in relation to the action. Modal verbs help us determine the relationship between the subject (he) and the activity (to see a movie). The verb ver (to see) is the main verb that expresses the action, and the verb querer (to want) acts as a conditional and is known as a modal verb. In this situation, we have two verbs in the sentence.

El quiere ver la pelicula nueva? – Does he want to see the new movie?.You are waiting for one more friend to arrive, but you aren’t sure he wants to see the same movie. Let’s imagine that you and some friends are going to see a movie. The name “modal verb” comes from the fact that modal verbs indicate modality, or in simple terms, a possibility, necessity, ability, obligation, or permission. Yo quiero comprar ese carro – I want to buy that carĪs you can see, the above verb works on its own and also with another verb (comprar, in this case) in the infinitive.Modal Verbs in Spanish are verbs that have a special characteristic, since they can work on their own, or with another “main” verb that is always in the infinitive.įor example, the verb “querer,” which means “to want.”

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What are modals