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1.2. Modal verbs in English

1.2.1. Concept of modal verbs


Language is not always used just to exchange information by making simple statements and asking questions. Sometimes, we want to make requests, offers, or suggestions. We may also want to express our wishes, intentions or indicate our feelings about what we are saying. In English, we do all these things by using a set of verbs called modal verbs or modal auxiliaries. The modal auxiliaries such as can, could, may, might, will, would, must, should and ought to express different types of modal meanings. These modal auxiliaries or modals for short are one of the most complicated problems of the English verbs. Michael Lewis (1986: 99) quoted Palmer’s remarks about the modals:

“There is no doubt that the overall picture of the modals is extremely “messy” and untidy and that the most the linguists can do is to impose some order, point some regularities, correspondences, parallelisms… This subject is not one that lends itself to any simple explanation.”

Semantically, modal auxiliaries allow the speaker to introduce a personal interpretation of the non-factual and non-temporal elements of the event. In other words, modals are one way for a speaker to encode modality into what (s)he says – such ideas as necessity, possibility, obligation, etc. Some of the modals may also express the same kinds of semantic colourings in the subjunctive mood.

1.2.2. Morphological and syntactic features of English modal verbs


(a) Modals do not inflect. This means they have no “-s” form in the third person singular of the present tense, or no “-ing” and “-ed” forms.

E.g. She can swim very well. (not: She cans …) (19: 121)

(b) They occupy the first place in a complex verb phrase and followed by the form base of a verb. They do not co-occur.

E.g. I can speak a little Arabic. (19: 121)



You could have let me know you were going out tonight. (19: 121)

(c) Both the present and past forms of modals can be used in past tense sequence.

E.g. I think he may/ might stay now. (19: 331)

(d) They are used as operators in the formation of, for example, questions and negatives.

E.g. negatives We might not be home before midnight. (19: 329)

questions May I help you? (19: 329)


1.2.3. Semantic features of English modal verbs


The primary semantic characteristics of modals is that they allow the speaker to express an attitude to the non-factual and non-temporal elements of the situation. This means s/he can introduce elements of modality such as possibility, necessity, desirability, morality, doubt, certainty, etc. For example, in making such a statement as “Mr Wilkins must be the oldest person in the village”, the speaker not only gives the fact about Mr Wilkins, but also indicates how certain he is about the truth or correctness of the information through the use of the modal must. In the case of a question, the listener’s opinion is involved, as well as the person obviously referred to by the sentence. “What should I do?” for example, is clearly about the speaker, but is also equally importantly about the listener’s judgement or opinion. Verb phrases containing a modal, therefore, are not about the facts alone, but also express the speaker’s or listener’s judgement or opinion. Generally speaking, each modal is fundamentally grounded in the moment of speaking, at the point Now. They are present form, not in the traditional sense, but because the meaning of each modal may be paraphrased “in the present circumstances, my judgement is that it is possible/ necessary/ desirable that…” This is different from the conventional view that, for example could is “the past tense” of can.

In the consideration of meanings of modals, Palmer (1979) assumes that this is a messy area. While dismissing the idea of the search for a “basic meaning” attributed to each individual modal he believes that it is possible to search for a set of closely related meanings: “(This) must not be taken to imply that we cannot look for a fairly generalised common meaning or a set of closely related meanings for each modal. It is only when precision is demanded or invariance postulated that the notion of a basic meaning becomes unrealistic”

In another approach to modal semantics, Dixon (1991: 170) points out that each modal has a fair semantic range, extending far beyond the central meanings that are indicated. There is in fact considerable overlap between modals. For instance, the central meaning of can refers to inherent ability, e.g. John can lift 100 kilos, and of may to the possibility of some specific event happening, e.g. We may get a Christmas bonus this year. But both modals can and may refer to a pemitted activity, e.g. John can/ may stay out all night and to some possibility, e.g. The verb ‘shout’ can/ may be used both transitively and intransitively. The best approach to meanings of modals, according to Lewis (1990: 103) is to look for a single central meaning while at the same time accepting that this may involve recognising a number of marginal examples.

1.3. Modal verbs in Vietnamese

1.3.1. Some features of the Vietnamese language


In order to examine the modal auxiliaries and modality in Vietnamese, it is necessary to present here some features that are peculiar to the Vietnamese language as these features are reflected via the modal auxiliaries in Vietnamese.

Firstly, we are all aware that Vietnamese is a non-inflectional language. A word keeps its own form in various places in a sentence. This feature is also recognized by most linguists dealing with Vietnamese (Tr­¬ng V¨n Ch×nh 1970, NguyÔn Kim Th¶n 1977, NguyÔn H÷u Quúnh 1994, NguyÔn Tµi CÈn 1977, etc.). Verbs in Vietnamese have no endings to show the categories of tense, person and finiteness. When necessary, these categories are expressed by “form word” such as pronouns or adverbs. Vietnamese grammar is limited in rules of word usage. The action is understood as taking place in the past or at present depending on the adverb of time or adverb of tense – aspect in the clause or on the context.

U nã ®· sang nhµ cô NghÞ QuÕ ch­a?

(Have you gone to see Deputy QuÕ?) Ng« TÊt Tè (1977: 44)



®·: adverb of tense – aspect (NguyÔn Kim Th¶n 1977: 180)

Sang: verb

Secondly, some sentence elements may be missing without changing the meaning when the context is obvious.



§i ®©u? (CËu ®i ®©u ®Êy? Where are you going?)

Häc. (Tí ®i häc. I’m going to school.)

Thirdly, in Vietnamese there exists a number of words whose meanings are very difficult to define. Some of these words work as markers of tense – aspect ®ang (happening at the moment), sÏ (will for future) etc. (NguyÔn Kim Th¶n 1977: 178), some others as markers of the imperative h·y (DiÖp Quang Ban 1989: 143) e.g. H·y nãi tÊt c¶ nh÷ng g× b¹n biÕt vÒ c« Êy (Say all you know about her). The combination of these markers with other groups of words helps to distinguish one group from another. This is the reason why these forms attracts attention from linguists.

Last but not least, Vietnamese is a tonal language. The arrangement of six tones has great influence on the intonation and accent of Vietnamese. Intonation exists in every language. But Vietnamese intonation plays a special role in dividing the grammatical units and sentences into different types.

1.3.2. Different views on the modal verbs in Vietnamese


Unlike English, in Vietnamese it is difficult to give the criteria for distinguishing the modal auxiliaries from other auxiliaries, from main verbs or particles.

Linguists hold different views of Vietnamese modal auxiliaries. However, most of them declare that there do exist modal auxiliaries in Vietnamese.

According to H÷u Quúnh in his book entitled “Ng÷ ph¸p tiÕng ViÖt hiÖn ®¹i”, modal verbs are used to express the speaker’s attitude towards factual events. Only under some certain context can main verb be combined with modal verbs.

Tr­¬ng V¨n Ch×nh (1970) states that a sentence with a modal auxiliary contains objective and subjective statements as well. By using the modal auxiliary, the speaker expresses his idea, notion of certainty, doubt or obligation, volition etc. He identifies a number of words that are considered as modal auxiliaries but he hardly suggests any criteria for identification. Modal auxiliaries, according to him, are identified by their meanings. Some verbs such as tin (believe), lo (regret) are modal auxiliaries.

The problem lies in the fact that many languages consist of verbs having modal meanings. Taking “to believe, to fear, to regret” in English as examples, they have modal meanings but they are not modal verbs. The same thing happens in Vietnamese.

Both H÷u Quúnh and Tr­¬ng V¨n Ch×nh do not point out criteria for the distinction between lexical verbs and modal verbs.

NguyÔn V¨n Hµo (1988) divides modal auxiliaries into two types (i) the modal auxiliaries expressing volition such as cã thÓ (can), kh«ng thÓ (cannot), d¸m (dare), toan (intend), ®Þnh (intend), ph¶i (must), cÇn (need), nªn (should), muèn (want)… (ii) the modal auxiliaries receiving actions such as bÞ (usually be + past participle with adversative meaning), ®­îc (usually be + past participle with beneficial meaning), chÞu ®ùng (bear, stand)… He distinguishes the modal auxiliaries from other groups of words just as they must be followed by another subordinate element.

E.g. B¹n Tó ®­îc c« gi¸o khen.

(Tu was complimented by the teacher)

NguyÔn V¨n Hµo (1988: 205)

(®­îc: modal auxiliary, c« gi¸o khen: subordinate element)

NguyÔn Kim Th¶n, in “§éng tõ tiÕng ViÖt”, offers a quite clear and convincing argumentation on Vietnamese modal verbs. As for him, modal verbs do not indicate actions or states but the ability, necessity or intention of doing something or the maintenance of the state expressed by the main verb. NguyÔn Kim Th¶n lists some of the modal auxiliaries in Vietnamese such as cÇn (intend), chÞu (bear), cã thÓ (can), d¸m (dare), ®Þnh (intend), nªn (should), nì (have the heart to force), chùc (be about to), khái (not have to), ph¶i (must), toan (intend), muèn (want), cè (attempt)…(NguyÔn Kim Th¶n 1977: 166, 169)


1.3.3. Words or phrases having modal meanings


Besides modal verbs, words belonging to other parts of speech and phrases with modal meanings can be used. These are cã lÏ, ch¾c, dÔ th­êng, tÊt nhiªn, thØnh tho¶ng, ®«i khi, lu«n lu«n, th­êng xuyªn…

E.g. Cã lÏ «ng lªn tØnh trªn víi cô nghÞ nhµ t«i. (34: 251)



Ch¾c m×nh l¹i ngê t«i ®i bu«n víi chÞ Êy th× còng ®¸nh b¹c víi chÞ Êy, ph¶i kh«ng? (33: 266)

ThØnh tho¶ng chóng l¹i nh×n nhau mµ c­êi. (32: 89)

In short, as in other languages, modal verbs in Vietnamese are also widely used as a basic means to express modal meanings. But they do not act as head element in the verb phrase. They have to be combined with other verbs to create verb phrases in the sentence.




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