Auxiliary and Modal verbs introduction

What are Modal verbs (must, can etc) and Auxiliary verbs (do, be, have)?

Modal verbs and Auxiliary verbs are basically tools that simplify English verb tenses

What is the difference between an Auxiliary verb and a Modal verb?

– You will see below that Auxiliary verbs like do, be and have change their form (to am, is, are was, were, do, does, did, have, has and had)

– Modal Auxiliary verbs do not change.

Auxiliary Verbs – do, be, have

1- These are “normal” verbs that may change depending on:

• the subject – I, he, we, the dog, etc
• or
• the tense (time) – present, past, future etc

2- They accompany another verb to form different tenses.

Do – as an auxiliary is normally used to form negative and interrogative (question) sentences in the Present Simple and Past Simple

• examples in the present:I don’t like football

• example in the past:Alan didn’t go to university after leaving school.

For more examples and other uses of do, does and did as auxiliary verbs

Have – as an auxiliary is used to form verbs in their perfect form in the affirmative, negative and interrogative.

• Present perfect: I have worked here for ten years

• Past perfect:When I arrived the train had already left.

For more examples of the perfect and other uses: “have” as an auxiliary

Be – as an auxiliary is used to form Continuous forms of verbs and Passive forms

• Present Continuous: Julia is writing an interesting book.

• Past Continuous: The man and his dog were walking down the road when they saw the full moon.

• Present Passive: A typical paella is made with rice and fish.

• Past Passive: My car was repaired yesterday.

Modal verbs – must, ought to, should, would, will, shall, can, could, may, might, had better

** the usual name is a Modal Auxiliary Verb

1- Modal verbs do NOT change  with the tense or subject:

• I can play football
• William can play football
• John and William should be careful when they drive at night

They are used with an infinitive to indicate meaning associated with certainty, obligation or permission

for other variations of Modal auxiliary verbs:

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