HOW DO WE MAKE MODAL VERBS?

To correctly understand and learn modal verbs or modal verbs, it is important to remember that they never conjugate with the grammatical persons in English (I, we, you, they, she, he, it), in other words:

They never have an infinitive (for example, there is no "to will")

They should never be used in a gerund (for example, there is no "coulding")

They will never have a participle (for example, there is no "musted")

Modal verbs can express anything from needs, probabilities, abilities, requests, suggestions, advice, conditions, to difficult and complex ideas such as "modality"; in this way, its meaning can be transformed depending on the verbs and the related context in the sentence.

Modal of ability:

CAN/CAN'T/COULD/COULDN't

Modal of obligation: 

MUST'T or DON'T/DOESN't HAVE TO

Modal of Probability:

MUST + INFINITIVE or MUST + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

Past perfect vs simple past

Ambos se refieren a acciones o estados pasados aunque tienen usos diferentes:

 

 1  El 'simple past' se puede utilizar para hablar de una acción o estado finalizado o para acciones que tienen lugar casi simultáneamente.

 

I painted my house yesterday.

Pinté mi casa ayer.

 

When she saw him she began to cry.

Cuando ella lo vio comenzó a llorar.

 

 2 El 'past perfect' se refiere a una acción o estado que comenzó en el pasado y que es anterior a otra acción también en el pasado.

 

He had cooked the dinner already when she arrived.

Él había hecho la cena cuando ella llegó.

 

Una de las oraciones suele ir introducida por 'when', 'after' o 'before'.

•  When he arrived, she had already gone home.

Cuando él llegó ella ya se había ido a casa.

•  She had already gone home before he arrived.

Ella ya se había ido a casa antes de que él llegara.