Language/French/Grammar/The-French-equivalents-of-the-English-modal-verbs

The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'

In French, there are several modal verbs that can be used to convey similar meanings as the English modal verbs. Here are the French equivalents of the English modal verbs:

Would

The French equivalent of 'would' is 'voudrais'. It is the conditional form of the verb 'vouloir', meaning 'to want'. For example:

• Je voudrais aller en France cet été. (I would like to go to France this summer.)

Should

The French equivalent of 'should' is 'devrais'. It is the conditional form of the verb 'devoir', meaning 'to have to' or 'must'. For example:

• Tu devrais arriver à l'heure. (You should arrive on time.)

Could

The French equivalent of 'could' is 'pourrais'. It is the conditional form of the verb 'pouvoir', meaning 'to be able to' or 'can'. For example:

• Je pourrais vous aider si vous voulez. (I could help you if you want.)

May

The French equivalent of 'may' is 'peux'. It is the present tense of the verb 'pouvoir', meaning 'to be able to' or 'can'. For example:

• Tu peux utiliser mon ordinateur si tu veux. (You may use my computer if you want.)

Might

The French equivalent of 'might' is 'pourrait'. It is the conditional form of the verb 'pouvoir', meaning 'to be able to' or 'can'. For example:

• Il pourrait venir nous voir demain. (He might come see us tomorrow.)

Ought to

The French equivalent of 'ought to' is 'devrait'. It is the conditional form of the verb 'devoir', meaning 'to have to' or 'must'. For example:

• Il devrait prendre une décision rapidement. (He ought to make a decision quickly.)

Must

The French equivalent of 'must' is 'dois'. It is the present tense of the verb 'devoir', meaning 'to have to' or 'must'. For example:

• Je dois finir mon travail avant ce soir. (I must finish my work before tonight.)

Note: In French, the use of modal verbs can vary depending on the context and the degree of formality. It's important to learn and practice the appropriate use of these verbs in different situations.

That's it for this French grammar lesson on the French equivalents of the English modal verbs. Keep practicing to become more proficient in using them in your French conversations. Bonne chance!

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds

Other Lessons

• Simple arithmetic (le calcul)
• How to use « il y a » in French
• Agreement of Adjectives
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Agreement with a preceding direct object in a relative clause when the participle is followed by an infinitive
• Present Tense
• Pronominal verbs without a reflexive interpretation
• Adjectives modified by adverbs and prepositional phrases
• Future Tense
• Adjectives which regularly occur before and after the noun, but with a change of meaning