Mastering Modal Verbs and Irregular Verbs in English
Modal Verbs Explained
Modal verbs express ability, possibility, necessity, or obligation. Here’s a breakdown:
- Ability: can (present), will be able to (future), could, be able to (past)
- Possibility and Deduction: could, may, might, must (present); could have, may have, might have, must have (past)
- Advice: should, ought to, had better (present)
- Obligation and Necessity: must, have to, need to (present)
- Prohibition: mustn’t, can’t
- Lack of Obligation: don’t have to, needn’t
- Permission: can, be allowed to
Common Irregular Verbs
Here’s a list of common irregular verbs with their base form, past simple, and past participle:
- Be [bi] – was [guas] / were [güer] – been [bin] – ser/estar
- Become [bicom] – became [biceim] – become [bicom] – convertir/transformar
- Begin [bi´gin] – began [bi’gan] – begun [bi’gun] – empezar
- Break [breik] – broke [brouk] – broken [broukn] – romper
- Bring [bring] – brought [brot] – brought [brot] – traer
- Build [bild] – built [bilt] – built [bilt] – construir
- Burn [barn] – burnt [barnt] – burnt [barnt] – quemar
- Buy [bai] – bought [bot] – bought [bot] – comprar
- Can [kan] – could [kuld] – been able to [bin aibol tu] – poder
- Catch [katch] – caught [kot] – caught [kot] – coger
- Choose [chuus] – chose [chous] – chosen [chosen] – elegir
- Come [kam] – came [keim] – come [kam] – venir
- Cost [kost] – cost [kost] – cost [kost] – costar
- Cut [kat] – cut [kat] – cut [kat] – cortar
- Do [du] – did [did] – done [don] – hacer
- Draw [drau]- drew [driu] – drawn [draun] – dibujar
- Dream [driim] – dreamt [dremt] – dreamt [dremt] – soñar
- Drink [driink] – drank [drank] – drunk [draank] – beber
- Drive [draiv] – drove [drouv] – driven [drivn] – conducir
- Eat [iit] – ate [eit] – eaten [iiten] – comer
- Fall [fol] – fell [fel] – fallen [folen] – caer
- Feel [fiil] – felt [felt] – felt [felt] – sentir
- Fight [fait] – fought [fout] – fought [fout] – luchar
- Fly [flai] – flew [flu] – flown [floun] – volar
- Forget [forguet] – forgot [forgat] – forgotten [forgatn] – olvidar
- Get [get] – got [gat] – got (GB) / gotten (USA) [gat/gaten] – obtener
- Give [giv] – gave [gaiv] – given [givn] – dar
- Go [gou] – went [güent] – gone [gon] – ir
- Have [jav] – had [jad] – had [jad] – tener
- Hear [hir] – heard [herd] – heard [herd] – oir
- Know [nou] – knew [niu] – known [noun] – saber
- Learn [lern] – learnt [lernt] – learnt [lernt] – aprender
- Leave [liif] – left [left] – left [left] – dejar
- Lose [luus] – lost [lost] – lost [lost] – perder
- Make [meik] – made [meid] – made [meid] – hacer
- Must [mast] – had to [hat tu] – had to [hat tu] – deber
- Pay [pei] – paid [peid] – paid [peid] – pagar
- Put [put] – put [put] – put [put] – poner
- Read [riid] – read [red] – read [red] – leer
- Run [raan] – ran [ran] – run [raan] – correr
- Say [sei] – said [seid] – said [seid] – decir
- See [sii] – saw [sou] – seen [siin] – ver
- Show [shou] – showed [shoud] – shown [shoun] – mostrar/ enseñar
- Sing [sing] – sang [sang] – sung [sang] – cantar
- Sleep [esliip] – slept [eslept] – slept [eslept] – dormir
- Speak [sspik] – spoke [sspouk] – spoken [sspoken] – hablar
- Spend [espend] – spent [espent] – spent [espent] – gastar
- Take [teik] – took [tuk] – taken [teikn] – tomar
- Teach [tiich] – taught [tot] – taught [tot] – enseñar
- Think [zInk] – thought [zot] – thought [zot] – pensar
- Understand [anderstand] – understood [anderstuud] – understood [anderstuud] – entender
- Win [güin] – won [guon] – won [guon] – ganar