Fix your Modal Verb Mistakes

(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi and welcome to the 3 English Experts. I'm Birgit. I'm Dave. And I'm Rebecca. And welcome to this episode. 3 English Experts is your English podcast to help you speak better English and create a positive and happy mindset for your English learning journey. So hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the 3 English Experts. And today we're talking about a thing called modal verbs. What are modal verbs? For those of you that don't know, Birgit, our grammar queen, is here just to run a list through you and then we're going to deep dive into this topic of modal verbs. Birgit. Hello. What are they? Thank you, Dave. Yes, that's a very straightforward grammar subject issue, so that must be me introducing it. Yes. Of course. That's always what they do. You do that. You do that. You're not the grammar queen for nothing, Birgit. I am. Yes, absolutely. So modal verbs, modal verben, is eine Modalität ausdrücken. I will, I can, I must, I want to, I need to. Things like that. When we think of people translating sentences from their German native language into English, it's easy to translate very often, but there are some tricky ways and I want to point and point out some three common mistakes I notice with my learners. One common mistake is that sometimes there is a verb conflict. That's what I call it. I hear people say, do I can. So once they have understood they want to ask a question, then they use do and then they put a modal verb where there should be a main verb. Yes, of course, it's difficult to understand at first that a modal verb is on the same level as a main verb, but it replaces it. And with the modal verbs, you can ask the question directly. Can I, must I, will I, because modal verbs function like the auxiliary verbs and they can ask questions. So this is what I hear sometimes or I heard in the last weeks frequently and it's difficult to get rid of. Do I can, something like that. I can say, can I do, yes, I can use do as a main verb, but I cannot say do I can. So there's a little confusion sometimes with this. And another thing I hear people struggle with is when they want to use would and point to the past. At some point I realized that if I tell people to remember that after a modal verb, you always use the infinitive. This is important. I think this is a rule you should remember. I want to go out. But want to uses the to. Not all modal verbs have a to though, so that's another tricky one. But I want to, and then it's always the infinitive. I want to see my mother. I will get something to eat. I must work harder. I can do this. Yes, you always have an infinitive. You don't have to worry about changing the verb, which is helpful. But what happens if you want to say something referring to the past using would? Would is another modal verb. I would do this if I could or something. Now when it comes to would, ich hätte gemacht, then I ask people, how could we say that? And once you realize with the would, and you always have an infinitive, if you connect that to the have and go backwards to the past, because have is also an infinitive, isn't it? So would have done will guide you with the present perfect into the past. I think this is an issue and I want to bring this up. It could be a nice takeaway for people to realize when you use would, use an infinitive and you can point to the future. I would go next week if I had the time. Generally, my message is it's not too difficult because we translate easily and we do the same in German. Ich möchte gehen. Ich will machen. Ich muss erledigen. Same thing, no big difference, but tricky bits and pieces, the same. The third common mistake is people mistake will for want. So I hear people say, I will a new car. Yes, will sounds like wollen, but it's not, it's a future tense, ich werde. I want a new car or I want to buy a new car. Rebecca, have you anything to add? I think you have. Yes, I don't know. I was very thorough. I was even getting confused there with my would have and don and I can see Dave was looking a bit like that. Sorry, hopefully I wasn't confused. No, no, no. It was very detailed. No problem. The other classic one that obviously people do, I think we all hear this, is they don't know how to use must in past tense. Ich musste etwas machen. So the key point here is there is no past tense of must. You can't say mustard because that would be zenf and that's something else. I don't want some mustard on my sausage. So obviously if you want to use the past tense, ich musste was machen, then you would say I had to. So we have to use the had to, I had to go or I didn't have to do that. That one is kind of tricky. The other thing I was going to talk about was must as well. I think people tend to overuse it sometimes. I don't know if it is just used more in German, mussen, but I think in English, I would think so. Yeah. A lot of people feel like they must do things. Yeah. Maybe it's the Germans following the rules. I don't know. But we use a softer version. So you have to do it. Have to is still flischt. It's still obligation. I have to do it, but it doesn't sound quite as harsh. Must can sound quite harsh. You must be in the meeting on Monday. Wow. You need to be in the meeting on Monday, need to. You should be in the meeting at eight o'clock on Monday. So you really need to, you have to be there. You have to be there rather than you must. You can say it's not grammatically wrong, but I just feel like it's a bit harsh. You would see it in written like rules, like dogs must be on the lead. For example, you will see that written or you must have a ticket before boarding the train or something. It's like really like it's a rule, but that's kind of more written communication. I would say you can say it in spoken conversation, but it's very intense. You can say, oh, I must eat less sugar. You're like, oh, I must do that. You can say it, but it's really, really hard. Should would be better. I should eat less sugar. I've just eaten a massive cookie. That's why I'm saying that. Yeah. The other thing. Sorry. I started explaining how good it was. Even bigger. I was really down. You must give us a bite. If only we were in the same room together, but unfortunately we're not. I think the other thing I probably forgot to mention is the can that if you think backwards again past tense. So we are now with future modality or backwards becomes the could. But also the could is something pointing to the future. I could do that, but it's also the past tense. Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk about that. That's a bit confusing. And we also had the was able to. You could also able to is kind of a modal verb. So I could read before I went to school, for example, the general skill in the past can and they could. I could read before I went to school. You can also say I was able to do something, but this is sometimes more used with a one time scenario. So the exam was difficult, but I was able to answer most of the questions. I was able to in that moment, but there's sometimes are interchangeable. Sometimes not. It's a bit confusing. The last one I want to talk about is ought to. So this is one everyone goes, what is this is a kind of weird one. It's just a weird word, O-U-G-H-T, and then to ought to. So it sounds like ought in German, like the place, O-R-T, ought. I ought to. I think it's looking confused now, you know, following my train of thought, like these are ought. Ought. And that's just the pronunciation, you know, we ought to do. We ought to go to that ought. And it's basically, it's just like should. You ought to stop smoking. It's not good for your health. Or you ought to learn more vocabulary if you want to improve. You ought to. So it's giving advice. It's not really using negative. You only use it in positive. You ought to do that. I would say that sounds quite authentic. It sounds a bit more typical English, I would say, rather than always using should. So it's kind of just like a fancy alternative to should. We ought to meet more often. Or we ought to do blah, blah, blah. So it's just a kind of an alternative, but it's a typical one. In my experience, a lot of my clients, they look at it and they go, what on earth is that? I've never seen that in my life. An upgrade, I would say, B2, C1, you should know ought to. You ought to know ought to. Yeah. And that's the ought to with the to after it, the want to. Yes, always with the to. That's a free. Can you think of more? Yeah. I'm able to. I'm able to. You ought to. You need to. You ought to and you have to. Have to. But again, that's confusing. So should is no to. So you should stop smoking or you ought to stop smoking. So that's the difference. I think that's it. I don't know. I think another thing is with must and have to, because you mentioned about this sounding really harsh. If you say must, I think there's also this idea of must is an opinion. So you must. Maybe a doctor says you must cut down on your sugar or you must stop smoking or whatever. And then the mustn't is the negative form. Mustn't. Kids mustn't do this. That is the really formal one, really strict one. But if you turn it over to have to, have to is normally the sort of finished, the compulsory one. And don't have to actually gives like a choice. So the don't have to is this more sort of a choice, whereas have to is really quite strict. And then the other side, the must is more the opinion option maybe. And then the mustn't is the strict one. So it's kind of crossed over if you like as well. So yeah, you have to buy tickets, but you don't have to validate it. For example, you have to do something, but you don't have to. It's a choice. You don't have to wear a suit when you come into the office. You can if you like, but you don't have to. It's not necessary, like not necessary, isn't it? That is confusing, I think. Yeah, but by now, I think the listeners have understood why this episode is really important to send out for us, because there's so much to talk about. And the must is also confusing because the mustn't is a strictly forbidden. We have to say that you mustn't, verboten, you mustn't step on the grass. We see. Exactly, yeah. You must not step on the grass. Right. Keep it green. On the green. It needs to stay green. Yes. Okay. What about politeness? Well, yes, I was going to tell you a little story as well, actually, about one of my relatives who worked with a German company in the past. And the person he worked with often wrote mails backwards and forwards, as you do. And often he wrote things like, I will have the invoice in euros just for this whatever. And of course, then maybe from a communication standpoint, which is where I'm going later on, if you say I will have it, it's like, yeah, it's a must. It's the way it is. Send it in euros or write the invoice in euros. And my uncle then often was a little bit bothered by this and saying, it's a bit direct, isn't it? Why does he always say I will have it? Maybe he won't have it. Maybe I don't want to write it with the euros. I want to write it in pounds. And this is, again, a cultural thing or maybe the translation thing, as Birgit said. Yeah, he probably meant I want, I would like, I would like the bill in euros. Yeah. Wollen, will, want, would like. Four steps. But my uncle didn't know this because he doesn't speak German. So he's just reading the I will and it's like, okay, I will have this and culture shocks, which kind of leads me on to my topic of the sort of how you can use modal verbs as well when you're expressing ability, as we talked about before, doing something I can or can't or whatever, offering requests like the German guy wanted to have the invoice. So he said, can you or will you or whatever? And then, of course, offering advice, which we also spoke about a little bit before. So we often use these modal verbs in these situations, ability, requesting, offering advice. And that's also an interesting point when we look at the so-called the normal form and then maybe like a kind of past form. So let's take one example with the can, right? So you could say, can you send me something? The report today is direct, it's a normal, it's perfectly fine. If you want to make it that little bit more polite, you could exchange the can to the could, which some people say is sort of the past tense form of the can. So the could makes it that little bit more polite. So you've got, can you send me or could you send me? And often with the could, the word possibly, we shove in there as well. So we have, could you possibly send me the report today? Another version is with the will. So we had that before. Will you help me with this is very direct, maybe less polite, but would you help me with this would be the more polite way, especially if it's a bigger ask that you have of somebody, you know, you like their help. So would you help me? And maybe the last one, when you're giving advice, we talked about ought to and should earlier on. For example, to give advice, you should speak to him about this or what, or her about something in a softer version. And you hear this a lot, I think, as natives, you might want to, okay, so you might want to speak to your manager instead of should. Somewhere in the middle, you could have could, right? So should you, could you, or you might want to do something. That's sort of the final, more softer suggestion. And it's all up to them. It's their decision then what you do. So you can kind of sometimes see how you put these models as like a volume switch. So do you want to be a little bit more direct with the can, the will, the should, or do you want to be a little bit more light? You could put it or softer and then use the could, the would, or something like might instead. So it's quite interesting just to decide how you want to communicate and also how people communicate with you, how they say, how you can react with them. And of course, that's maybe another reason why the Germans generally in England have this reputation of being very direct. So this is maybe another takeaway just to say in England or in English speaking countries, we often use these could, would, and might to be a little bit more polite with people. So food for thought, I guess. I think it's always the question people say, you know, I get clients and say, oh, but do we really need to be, why do we all have to be so over polite? It's not necessary. Can't I just say can or can you, why can't I do that? And I would say, well, you can say that, of course you can, but what reaction do you want? Do you want this guy to write back to you really quickly or do you want him to think, yeah, here we go. I'm not going to write it back today. So it's also what you expect in return. And if you're looking for polite kind of, and someone who's going to do what you want them to do, it just is worth doing it. I had a conversation with one of my clients and he said, oh, I hate this whole, why do I have to say hope you're well and hope you have a nice weekend? What's the point? It's a waste of time. And I said, it's just a cultural thing. And I said, try doing it for a week and see what happens. And he said, and he did it for a week. And he actually came back and said, the woman he was dealing with, she was, I don't know, she was in Singapore or something. And he said, ever since I started doing this, the communication between us has got better. She's answering my emails quicker. It's amazing. It's just this little thing that she obviously was like, oh, he's being quite nice today. So maybe I'll be nice too and do what he wants rather than, oh, this guy do this, do that. So I know some people find it annoying and they don't see the point. But again, I always say to people, you cannot hear someone's voice when you write an email. They can't hear your voice. They cannot see your face. So maybe you don't mean it in a bad way. Maybe you're smiling. It's nothing pushy, but you don't, they don't hear that. They don't see your face. They just read this message. And if they're having a bad day and they're already not feeling good and then you get this pushy mail, they're not going to be really motivated to help you out. So I think keep that in mind. They can't see your face. They can't hear your voice. Always keep that in mind. And I think this is a level thing as well, isn't it? That if you want to upgrade your English to a higher level, to the maybe the C levels or the high B's, this is something really to be aware of. These differences in between can and could, will and would. I think most people do that. But this idea with the might, you might want to do something. That's quite a high level. It's quite high level. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It wouldn't pop into a lot of people's mind, I think, but you might want to do that. I might want. When you really translate it, it seems weird, but it is very popular, like you say. Listeners, if you listen to us and you listen to three English experts and you think we have good contact, what I want to add here is, so if you went to a doctor and asked for some tips, so the prescription I would want to give people here, really go out, book a trip to Britain, go out there, make experience, have experience, find that other countries maybe celebrate appreciation a little more, or they like this politeness, that would be my prescription. Just go out and visit. Visit Britain. Biggest, biggest prescription for the day. Yeah. Go and experience the politeness. You have to. You have to feel that. Live with the locals. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But I think I have had clients who've gone away, lived in Australia for a while, or they've just traveled for a few months, and they do often say they come back and they go, ooh, the Germans, they can be quite pushy. And not all, of course, not everybody is like that, but there is this direct conversation going into bakery and saying, ich bekomme. I still can't get my head around that. I just could never force myself to do it. And I know it's normal, and they just go, ich bekomme, whatever. And I just think, I can't say that, I guess, you know, I just can't do it. And I would always say, ich hätte gern, ich hätte gern, always. That's how I communicate. That's great. I would never say, oh, I want two sausage rolls, please. I would say, could I have, could I have. Food for thought. Reflect. Think how others act. Yeah, that's wonderful. The Golden Nugget. So today's golden nugget. I will do that. I just thought about how to put that forward. And you know, I've released another book for the international audience, which came out in July. Speak clear, correct, confident English for an international crowd. And I just feel I'm so lucky to have understood something important. And listening to us recording today just made me realize it's a benefit that I'm German and I work with this with two British people. So we always reflect on why and what for the German audience. And that's so important. And I feel really I know how I can help people get easier into the language with these five core tenses. And that's so strong my feeling about this that I have eventually now published the book in English for an international audience. And we have decided to give you a new freebie when you sign up to our website, to our newsletter on our website, freeenglishexperts.com. Up to now, we had the 50 gold nugget booklet. I think we are going to take that off for a moment, but bring it back on with new content in some while. But for now, you will get a free chapter of my new book, Speak clear, correct, confident English. So you get an idea what it's all about. And yeah, just sign up for the newsletter. We'll send it out directly and hopefully that will get you an idea of how my approach, our approach is to help people enjoy English, appreciate English and the language and have fun with it. Very good. Following on from this topic, our episode next time is going to be about what should you focus on when you're learning English? So we're so overwhelmed with resources today. There's so much you can do. There's apps, there's books, there's videos. And sometimes it's almost too much and you start to wonder, why should I put my focus? So as Birgit was saying, she's written a book about what grammar tends us to focus on. But next week, we're also going to talk about other things. What should you focus on? Perhaps if you want to upgrade or if you just want to get going again, what would we advise? Where would we put our effort? Let's say. So that will be our topic next week. So hopefully we'll see you again. Bye for now. Bye-bye. Thank you so much for pressing play today. If you enjoy our podcast, please share with your friends, your family or your co-workers. Or you can also support us by giving us a thumbs up or a star rating or a review on whatever podcast platform you are using to listen to us. For questions and comments, you can also head over to our website, 3englishexperts.com. Thank you so much for listening. We really appreciate your support. Have a great day and see you next time.