My boss told me I have to work this weekend!.Have to usually talks about things that someone else tells the speaker are necessary. All my clothes are dirty! I need to do some laundry.Need to usually talks about things that the speaker thinks are necessary. You will need to finish reading this book by tomorrow.Young people have always had to listen to their parents!.We use need to and have to for obligations, especially with the perfect tenses and other modal verbs. We also use may to talk about permission. The kids might like carrots, but I'm not sure.We use might and may to say that something is possible, but not sure. The students must finish their reports by Friday.

We use must to talk about obligations and when we are sure something is true ( deduction). These modal verbs are usually used to express obligation and possibility. I have never been able to understand this subject!.The President is able to veto laws if he chooses to do so.She will be able to buy some new shoes soon.We use be able to in formal sentences and with the perfect tenses and other modal verbs. If we have enough time, we could go to the park later.Many years ago, people could travel without passports.When I was young, I could eat tons of ice cream!.We use could to talk about what we were able to do in the past and to talk about ability in conditionals. She can help you with your homework later today.We use can to talk about things that we are able to do in the present or the immediate future. These modal verbs are usually used to show ability.

They contain complete lesson plans with absolutely everything you need to teach or learn the modal verbs in English. In these worksheets, we will review the following groups of verbs:įor complete information on modal verbs, you can try our English Modal Verbs Series. In English, we use modal verbs all the time! It is very important to understand the different ways that we can use each verb. Modal verbs are special kinds of verbs in English that express ability, permission, obligation, possibility, and polite requests. First, we will look at some examples, and then you can practice with the exercises. These worksheets will help you review how and when to use modal verbs.

Exercises modal verbs with answers