Modal verbs (19)

There are about a dozen modal verbs in Chinese. Modal verbs such as 喜欢 xĭhuān like , xiăng wish and 应该 yīnggāi ought to are used to express feelings, intentions and obligations. Modal verbs are placed before the main verbs in sentences. For instance,

xiăng chī Zhōngguó fàn

I fancy eating some Chinese food

T he word xiăng fancy , wish in is a modal verb which indicates the speaker’s inclination and intention.

When a modal verb is used in a sentence, the aspect particle le for completed actions is not used . A time word (time when) is placed in the sentence to indicate that an action has taken place:

以前 去中

wǒ yĭqián xiăng qù Zhōngguó

I wanted go to China in the past .

The modal verbs in the following list are the most commonly used.

Chinese

Pinyin

English

yào

want; ask for; wish; desire

xiăng

want to; would like to; feel like (something)

应该

yīnggāi

should; ought to; must

néng

can; be able to; be capable of

喜欢

xĭhuān

like; love; prefer; enjoy; be fond of

可以

kěiyĭ

can; may

huì

be good at; be skilful in

愿意

yuànyì

be willing to

kěn

be willing to

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Assignments.

Translate the following sentences into Chinese (20 modal verbs)

I want to go to China and she wants to go to Japan.

I would like to learn Chinese.

She should learn Japanese.

What language would you like to learn?

I fancy some French food.

I would like to visit my friend.