In this section, you are going to learn about modal verbs.
Modal verbs modify the meaning of the main verb.
In Dutch, these verbs are called 'modale hulpwerkwoorden' and they comprise 'zullen, kunnen, willen, mogen' and 'moeten/hoeven te'.
The good news is: the English use of modals is far less complicated than the Dutch one. English modal verbs cannot be stacked like Dutch ones, e.g. 'Ik zou hebben willen kunnen blijven zitten lezen'.
On the other hand: Dutch and English modal may look or sound similar and yet not mean exactly the same. Therefore, they will be introduced to you by their function in the sentence.
In this section, we distinguish the following functions:
Modals of: