English Modal Verbs and their Equivalents in Romanian
Conf.univ.dr. Monica PONTA
Universitatea „Aurel Vlaicu” din Arad
Nine central modal auxiliary verbs are used to express modality in English; they are can,
could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would. All of them are invariant forms which take the
role of the auxiliary; they precede the negative particle, in negative sentences, and the subject, in
questions. They are followed by a bare infinitive in the verb phrases (can write, may come, must
learn). In general they cannot co-occur with each other in verb phrases.
There is a restricted group of English verbs which behave like modals, here they are: need
(to), ought to, dare (to), used (to). A number of fixed idiomatic phrases have similar functions with
the modals, namely: (had) better, have to, (have) got to, be supposed to, be going to. They are
called semi modals and unlike the central modals, they can be marked for tense and person and can
occur with a central modal verb or another semi modal.
The paper describes them from structural, lexical, morphological, syntactical points of view,
in English, and then in Romanian, trying to find their equivalents/ substitutes and does not intend to
exhaust the subject.
The English verbs are marked by tense and modality but not both. Modality is what we
are interested in. The verbs used for expressing it are: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will,
would, must. They are invariant in form, play the role of an auxiliary and have some peculiarities
such as:
- they do not get –s for the third person singular- the negative word not follows them
- the interrogative form is built by placing them in front of the subject
- the verb following them is in the short Infinitive form.
Bob can read and write English well.
Mary cannot speak English.
May we come in?
These verbs form a homogenous group, but there is no strict boundary between modals
and lexical verbs. There are some verbs, marginal auxiliary verbs, called so by some grammarians,
which behave like modals (they build negative and interrogative sentences like the modals).These
are: need (to), ought(to), dare(to), used (to).
I need not translate the text.
Ought he come here?
Bob dare not enter the room.
Beside them, there are also some idiomatic phrases which function as the modals do; here
they are: (had) better; have to;
(have) got to; be supposed to; be going to. The spoken language marks the presence of some
of their shortened forms:
better (for had better);gotta (for have got to); gonna (for be going to).These phrases are
called semi modal verbs. Besides their already mentioned qualities (those that make them be similar
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to the modals), they have other qualities which make them enter the group of the other verbs: they
have tense and person, co-occur with other modal verbs/ semi modals.
Sue need to grow a bit more.
You might need to get back quick.
She need to be sure about that currency values.
There are some fixed expressions which are similar to the modal auxiliaries, in meaning,
for example: be able to; be obliged to; be likely to. Their component parts contribute, in an
independent way, to the meaning of the phrase. Their modal verbs can be used for making time
distinction though they are not marked for tense. Will, shall, be going to may be used when
reference to future is made.
It is going to be a nice weather (in the coming days).
We shall present these documents to the general manager.
The modals can be grouped in pairs, exception is made by must Part of them make
reference to present time while the other ones to the past; here they are:
Present time reference
Can
May
Shall
Will
Past time reference
Could
Might
Should
Would
I think I can work all day./I thought I could work all day.
Peter knows Mary will help him./Peter knew Mary would help him.
English modals are associated with hypothetical situations and convey politeness: Would
you mind coming here? Could he sing these documents?
Because of this characteristic, the modal verbs are regarded as unmarked for tense.
Taking into account their meanings, the modals and semi modals are grouped in three main
categories (the verb used to is not included as it makes reference to past time): 1)permission,
possibility, ability: can, could; may, might
2) obligation, necessity: must; should; had better; have got to; ought to; be supposed
to
3) volition, prediction: will, would; shall, should; be going to.
Each modal verb has two types of meanings: one makes reference to actions and events
the human being controls in a direct way; they are related to permission, obligation, volition or
intension (intrinsic meaning). The second refers to logical status of events and states and relates to
assessments of likelihood; possibility, necessity, predictions are to be included here (extrinsic
meaning).
Taking into account the two groups, there are structures that correspond to them. The
former group uses the following patterns:
1) subject + verbal phrase (it makes reference to human beings that act as agents of the
main verb)
2) subject + verb phrase (the verb is a dynamic verb which describes activities, events
that can be controlled)
The extrinsic meaning of the modals are accompanied by non human subjects and their
verb structures get stative meanings.1
Intrinsic meaning:
1
Biber,Douglas,a.o., Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English,
Longman, 2000, p.486.
294
You can’t mark without a scheme.
You must make a scheme.(obligation)
We shall not attempt a detailed account of linguistic categories in this book, but we will
use as far as possible those which are well enough known.(intention)
Extrinsic meaning:
You must have thought that you must have so much time.(necessity)
But in other cases his decisions will seem more radical.
(prediction)
The modal verb might occurs in extrinsic sense, marking possibility rather than
permission using an animate subject and a dynamic main verb:2
Ben might control the situation.
She might accept the invitation but come
The verbs which are associated with the modals are called mental verbs and they express
different emotions, attitudes, cognitive states:
I can imagine what he looks like.
As a teacher, I could accept her.
Sue can’t discern it.
The permission/ possibility modals can/could; may/might are multifunctional; might is
for marking logical possibility while can indicates permission/ ability and logical possibility.
Academic texts use could, may/might for expressing logical possibility.
The two actors could be promoted as managers.
His only problem may be that, by losing the process, he loses his job.
Can is interpreted as marking ability, logical possibility in academic prose:
These phenomena can be explained physically.
Can, may are occasionally used for marking permission in academic prose; most of the
cases are interpreted as verbs used for marking logical possibility, ability:
Legislation can establish tax collecting.
Conversation uses can as marker of ability, permission.
Ability: I can hear what she says. Ben can swim very well.
Permission: Can I have some more?
Logical possibility or ability, permission: I can’t believe it.
Could marks a logical possibility in conversation and expresses a greater degree of
uncertainty:
That could be Ben.
It could be anything you think about.
Could is used in conversations and marks:
- ability: Ben asked me to come and I could not refuse them.
- permission: Sue asked me if she could join our group.
May rarely is present in conversations for expressing logical possibility: It may be wrong.
“ Despite a well-known prescription favoring may rather than can for expressing
permission, may is especially rare in the sense of permission…many of the instances of may
marking permission …are produced by caregivers in conversations with children.”3
May I go to the …?
Yes, you may.
3
Biber,D.a.o., Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Longman,
2000, p.492.
295
Obligation, necessity modals and semi modals/must; should; have to; need to/are less
common than the other categories. All of them, except must are used for marking personal
obligation rather than logical necessity. Have to; should mark personal obligation; must is used for
marking both logical necessity and personal obligation, the former is used in conversation while the
latter in academic prose. These modals are used for marking obligation both in conversation
/should; have to/ and in academic prose.
If this is to be done mechanically, special varieties should be selected.
Must marks logical necessity in conversation /You must not care about it./ and personal
obligation, in academic prose/ She must tell smth. very important about modals./
Should provides obligation seen as a polite formulation. In academic prose, the two
modals, must, should, express logical necessity.
The volition, prediction modals and semi modals, will/ would; shall; be going to, are used
to mark predictions. This is done by the first pair while shall marks volition more than prediction;
be going to marks volition, it is less used for marking prediction. Conversation uses will/would for
marking logical prediction / Sue will feel better if she takes the medicine/ as well as personal
volition/ Ben will come and help you. /
Be going to is used for marking personal volition, in conversation/ I am going to translate
the text./ In academic prose, these verbs are seldom used for marking personal volition; they are
used for predictions of events, states and do not involve personal agency/ will/would are in this
situation/.
Shall marks personal volition rather than prediction/I shall try to solve this problem./ and
the conversations uses it as a volitional modal verb, in questions, with first person subjects, acting
as offers /Shall I tell him the truth?/
The modals can combine with marked aspect and voice but not with tense:
- modal – voice / passive voice/: To get these results, the lab should be supplied with high
tech equipment.
- modal – aspect / perfect aspect/: It would have been written.
Passive voice associated with modals is seldom used in conversation and fiction; in
academic prose, some modals such as can, could, should, must are used. Perfect aspect and modals
is often present in fiction: may/ might (with the meaning of permission and possibility) and must,
should (meaning obligation/ necessity); can, will, shall occur with perfect aspect and so do could,
would. The association of modals with voice or aspect is done because of their typical meanings.
Will, would, shall are rarely used with Passive voice; they mark volition/ prediction and, often, they
express the agent of the main verb. For example shall indicates volition, the human agent is
expressed as the verb subject: We shall deal with this topic.
Can, could occur with passive voice; they express a kind of logical possibility. These
patterns may be short agentless passives or passives nominalizing a process which is given in the by
phrase. In these cases, can, could with passives avoid identification of the human agent of the main
verb (the agent is able to carry out the reported action). Logically, the action is possible.
1) agentless passives: Each text can be translated by Peter.
2) passives with a nominalized process given in by phrase: The results can be
seen /by re reading the reports .
Must, should are used with the passive voice in order to mark obligation; Care must be
taken to give all the possible answers to the questions. These two modals are quite common with
perfect aspect, the aspect marker providing a past time reference. This association marks a logical
necessity, the events occurring sometime in the past. The rain must have fallen in large quantities.
For conversation purposes, the pattern: perfect+ modals (must) is used, marking a logical necessity.
If you say Ben has made that thing, he must have made it.
May/ might + perfect express a certain degree of doubt about past events/ situations.
Imagine what she might have looked like. Obligation/necessity modals are used with progressive
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aspect and mark personal obligation, occurrence that is in progress or will occur in the future: Ben
must be working.
The semi modals have to; need to; be going to can be present in series after modals: Sue
will have to translate the text. A frequently used pattern is that, which contains have to + volition/
prediction modals. I would have to dream a lot to see him. There is another pattern modal + need to
with the same meaning, used in news and academic prose. He will need to work a lot. These
patterns are less frequently used in conversation than in prose; their semi modals are frequently
used in conversation as this prefers to use shorter forms.
Once the English modals and semi modals have been introduced, to reach our target, we
have to come back to the Romanian language structure which uses specific verbal patterns with
modal meanings. There are some moods which are used for this purpose because of their modal
values. One of these moods is the Conditional Mood. From the point of view of the context, there
are two modal values which are situated on the line form of the verbs imagina / imagine; crede /
believe; – sti / know; – exista/be and two other values placed on the line vrea / wish; poate/can;
trebuie/must; face/do. The pair imagina/imagine makes reference to non real/ imaginary processes,
crede/ believe/ probable processes which are not sure to be fulfilled.
The Romanian Conditional Mood can be associated with presumptive, getting the
meaning:” X considers but, he/she is not convinced / one considers but there is no belief.” 1, a
characteristic which belongs to the verb to believe/ a crede.
For defining the area of imagina/ imagine (a process which is considered to be false “X
imagines that…”) the context has as background the comparative structures introduced by the
conjunctions: ca si cum/ as if; ca si cand/ as when: “Ana se poarta cu Andrei ca si cand acesta n-ar
fi calatorit cu avionul”/Ann treats Andrei as if the latter hasn’t ever traveled by plane.”(The
meaning is the following: Andrei traveled by plane before but Ana does not take it into account).For
expressing the same meaning, the texts which uses the Conditional may introduce new connectors
such as : de parca/ as if/whether :De parca n-ati sti de el/ As if you don/t know about him.
The verbs to imagine; to fancy/ a imagina/ a-si inchipui or nouns impresie/ impression are
associated with the Conditional Mood for expressing false utterances. The Conditional mood can
express processes placed on the line vrea/wish; poate/can; trebuie/must and are expressed as wish/
intention. Ben ar desena/ Ben would draw.(Ben does not draw, but he intends to do this action).
Under these conditions, the Conditional gets an optative meaning which is to be found in:
- independent sentences: As fi lucrat in gradina in aceasta saptamana/ I would have
worked in the garden this week.
- main clauses
- exclamatory sentences: Ce-as mai manca un mar! I would eat an apple!
Being a wished process, the optative conditional is present in wishes, curses. The every
day language uses this type of conditional which gets a modal value. Such patterns appear in set
phrases. Using Conditional forms, one may express processes whose existence is probable, virtual.
This value of the Conditional is connected to the verb crede/ believe, getting the meaning: ”X
considers, but has no conviction.”. It is present in independent sentences, main clauses, subordinate
clauses.
Doubt can be expressed in direct and indirect questions: Ar manca, n-ar manca? Would
he eat, wouldn’t he?
The Conditional expresses the meaning of a process placed in a virtual area and achieved
as a doubt. Under these circumstances, the conditional expresses an attitude that keeps it away from
the presented statements, enter in opposition to the indicative. The statement is probable, but there
is no conviction about its truthfulness. Sometimes the Conditional indicates an impossible action for
establishing the truth. Forms of Conditional are used for rendering/telling the processes whose
development is presumed by the speaker; the text contains elements which render the idea of
probability.
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The probability modal meaning is underlined by forms of Conditional which are
accompanied by undefined connectors. The Conditional verbs could express a hypothesis, a
presumption which can influence the carrying out of a process. These verbs render processes which,
because of the condition are connected between them, by means of the conjunction by. The
subordinate clause renders a probable, hypothetical situation.
Having in view the value of poate/can, the Conditional Mood presents a possible process
that can be fulfilled under the conditions of the necessary background (mental, physical capacity,
favorable circumstances).
The Conditional has a higher possibility of being put into practice than the optional
Conditional has. Because of this characteristic, the Conditional is the opposite of the Imperative and
so we speak about a potential conditional. Its forms can appear in different types of sentences such
as: independent, exclamatory sentences, questions, subordinate clauses.
Having the same value, hypothetical value, the forms of a potential conditional are
accompanied by negation in contrasting structures. So the explanatory hypothesis can be built. It is
true, and not, because I would be afraid of this. The fulfillment or non fulfillment of a process,
rendered by means of conditional mood involves the possibility or impossibility of putting into
practice the processes rendered by means of main clauses. The modal meaning of the conditional
process is rendered by means of text elements. This meaning is marked by adversative clauses
where another verb is used in its Indicative form. Two processes are put face to face; one is a
probable process, it is not certain and is expressed by means of the Conditional. The other one, is
sure and Indicative is used for expressing it.4
Used in the Conditional mood, the verbs expressing wish, preference, request, necessity,
permission diminish the situation: I want/ I would want; I prefer/ I would prefer.
The same diminished meaning is offered by the Conditional to other verbs, getting a
typical meaning for poate/may.Daca mi-ati permite? Would you allow me?
Within the system of the personal moods, the Presumptive is associated with the
Conditional and covers the area of the verb crede/ believe. Due to it, the processes are possible,
probable, virtual. It has a limited modal meaning. The Presumptive forms describe a process about
which the speaker has not a clear opinion; the sentence is formed as a presumption, hypothesis; it is
strong and because of this, it is the opposite of the Indicative and Imperative and forms a variant of
the Conditional. Its” permanent modal meaning makes the presumptive verbal forms to be seldom
associated with modal adverbs which have the same meaning.” Set phrases such as I ask myself/ ma
intreb; probably/ probabil accompany the presumptive verbs. Pesemne ca m-o fi cunoscand
dumnealui./ Probably he might have known me!
Presumptive is present in independent sentences or main clauses after declarandi verbs
(sti/ know; crede/ believe; se indoi/ doubt): I don’t know how great Sue’s art of teaching would
have been.”
As opposed to all the other personal moods, the Imperative has a special situation being
the means of expressing the meaning: obligation, interdiction for X. to do something, Y being the
person who gives orders to the speaker. The Imperative underlines the involvement of the
interpersonal connections in a communication; the speaker wants to have the action expressed by
the verb, action put in practice by the person the speaker is addressing to. The process is always
considered a possible, virtual action.
The Imperative is present in dialogues, Direct speech, Indirect speech. The speaker gives
orders to somebody: Get out! Take the book!, Smoke if you want! It can be situated between vreaface/ wants- makes and covers the area of trebuie/ must. (X must do something what the speaker
tells him/her to do). Sometimes the Imperative covers the semantic area of may. Used in direct
4
XXX Gramatica Limbii
Romane, Bucuresti,2005, p.365
Romane,Partea
298
I
Cuvantul,
Editura
Academiei
addressing formulas, the Imperative may be accompanied by nouns in the Vocative case,
interjections, substantivized adjectives: dragule/ scumpule/ dear. It is present in independent
sentences or sentences connected by si/and; de/to: Intra si t u de te inchina./ Enter and bow
yourself.
Similar to Conditional, Presumptive and Imperative, the Conjunctive makes opposition to
the Indicative in the pair possible-real/ existed- done. This quality is a result of its modal meaning,
of its capacity of replacing the components of the verbal forms, which are used for expressing the
modal character in the area of possibility. The Conjunctive is placed in the semantic area of
imagina/ imagine – crede/ believe. On the other side, it is between can (X. has conditions) and must
(X. is obliged, he is not allowed).5
The Conjunctive verbs are widely spread, their modal values being used in independent
sentences and main clauses. In subordinate clauses, the conjunctive may get a modal meaning. It is
present in independent sentences, describing an imagined, non real process, considered to be
possible for the speaker: .Sa zicem ca…/Let’s say that../Shall we say that…In indirect questions, it
is present for fulfilling the modal meaning specific to the verb crede/ believe. Oare sa fie asa?/ Shall
it be like this?
The Conjunctive is present in dubitative questions which present alternative hypotheses.
Sa-i spun, sa nu-i spun?/ Shall I tell him, shan’t I?. In interrogative sentences, the Conjunctive form
verbs can reproduce an achievable process, specific to can. Ce sa faca (Ce putea sa faca) in astfel de
situatii? / What can he do in these circumstances? Having this value, the Conjunctive is present in
different styles. Having the value of may, meaning X. is not obliged but has the permission to do
something, the Conjunctive is present in questions of this type: Cand am voie sa incep? When am I
allowed to begin?
In Imperative sentences, the Conjunctive expresses an impulse: Let’s do it!, a request: Be
your wish!, a piece of advice: Let her write him!, an order: Be quiet! In these situations, it is placed
in the area of trebuie/ must.
There are a lot of other examples which can be given here to sustain these ideas but they
are to be presented in another paper.
Bibliography
XXX, Gramatica Limbii Romane I Cuvantul, Editura Academiei Romane, Bucuresti, 2005
BIBER, David.,s.a., Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Longman, Harlow, 2000
GALATEANU FARNOAGA, Georgiana,s.a.,Gramatica Limbii Engleze, Editura Lucman,
Bucuresti, f.a.
TARANU, Mariana, Limba Engleza Sinteza gramaticala completa prin enunturi si exercitii, Editura
Corint, Bucuresti, 2002.
5
XXX Gramatica Limbii Romane I, Cuvantul, Editura Academiei Romane,
Bucuresti, 2005, p.376.
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