Modal auxiliaries

There is a small group of verbs which is called modal auxiliaries or modal help verbs. These verbs can alter the verbal meaning in a sentence. Compare the English sentence:

• She sings.

It can be modified by several modal verbs, for example:

1. She can sing.
2. She must sing.

The information given about the subject in the sentence is changed: either you get the information that the subject sings, that the subject is able to sing or that the subject needs to sing.

Modal auxiliaries have a wide variety of meanings, mainly referring to possibility or necessity. Like other verbs, modal auxiliaries inflect for person (first, second, third and a fourth – indefinite – person), number (singular and plural), tense (non-past and past) and mood (indicative, potential and conditional). Unlike other verbs, however, it is neither possible to use a passive or imperative form.

16 verbs can be used as modal auxiliaries. Their different meanings will be described in the following sections.

To say something about what someone has to do because it is necessary you can use the following verbs:

• âlggâd 'must, have to, should'
  • Sami âlgg võõrâs kueʹlin jieʹlled ǩeässa.
  • One basically has to live off fresh fish in the summer.
• õlggâd 'must, should, to be obliged to'
  • Ton õõlǥak njuiǩǩeed pâ´jjel tue´llj.
  • You must jump over the hide.
• feʹrrtjed  'must, to be obliged to'
  • Tuʹst feʹrttai čuõppâd muu vueiʹv meädda.
  • You must chop my head off.

To say something about what someone has to do because it is possible you can use the following verb:

• mä´tted 'must'
  • ??
  • ??

To say something about what someone wants to do you can use the following verb:

• tättad 'want' (necessity and possibility)
  • Ku sij pâi åskka suu da tuejjee nuʹtt što mäʹhtt son tätt son jičč vuäǯǯči puârast påǥsted siʹjjid.
  • When they just believe him and do as he wants them to, he will really be able to laugh at them.

To say something about what someone can do or is able to do because it is necessary you can use the following verbs:

• siltteed 'can, to be able to'
  • Pueʹrab lij jiõm silttâd.
  • It is better that I am not able.
• vueiʹtted 'can, to be able to'
  • Mäʹhtt mon vuäitam nueʹtted, sähss čuuʹt.
  • How can I fish with a seine net? It will get really dirty.

To say something about what someone can do or is able to do because it is possible you can use the following verbs:

• pâʹssted 'can, to be able to'
  • ??
  • ??
• põõžžted 'can, to be able to'
  • ??
  • ??

To say that someone is allowed to do something and has the possibility to do it you can use the following verbs:

• vââʹjjed 'may'
  • ??
  • ??
• täiʹdded 'seem, may'
  • ??
  • ??
• säʹtted 'may'
  • ??
  • ??
• äppšed '??'
  • ??
  • ??
• suiʹtted '??'
  • ??
  • ??
• lueʹštted 'to be allowed to' (possibility and necessity)
  • Teʹl leäi Ruõššâst nåkam mall, što vieʹǩǩ ǥo jeäʹla, de puärrsõmmâz lue´štte skooulâst
  • Then in Russia they had such a system, whereby if there was no help they allowed the oldest (child) to be away from school.

All modal verbs can also be used in a negative sense (regularly combined with the verb of negation ), but there is one modal auxiliary that is only used with a negative meaning:

• iǥõl 'not allowed to' (possibility and necessity)
  • Leâš-a leʹjje teʹl pââʹzztemsluuʹžvpoodd, de teʹl iǥõl siõrrâd.
  • But there were church service times of fasting, and then one was not allowed to play.

There are only a few irregularieties or special rules to be taken care of by using modal auxiliaries. For instance the verb feʹrttjed 'must, be obliged to' requires that the subject occur in the locative case while the verb itself only occurs in the third person singular:

• ??feʹrttai??
• ??

As you have seen in the examples above, the modal auxiliary is normally followed by the main verb. The main verb is in the infinitive, whereas the modal verb is inflected.

Here you can read more about verb constructions or verbs in general.

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