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Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.  

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May, my can, could, should, 
would let's talk about it. 

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Hey, what are you up to? I think I might to go to 
a party tonight. Huh? There is a problem with this  

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sentence. Does this sound right to you? I might to 
go to a party. Yeah, something's wrong with this,  

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but what and why? And how can you say this 
correctly so that you can speak real American  

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English. In this lesson, you are going to learn 
the most common modal verbs and how to use them  

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accurately in English. You might have learned verb 
tenses in English, present, the past, the future  

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well modal verbs are a little bit different. I 
want to make sure that you can feel confident  

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using them, and speak real American English.
So in this lesson, you will learn the three most  

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important rules about modal verbs. Then we'll have 
a little quiz. And at the end of this lesson, I  

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want to teach you six common phrases that include 
modal verbs that you can use in daily life. And  

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that you will hear in conversations in movies, 
in TV shows so that you can feel comfortable  

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with English. Like always I have created a free 
PDF worksheet so that you can remember everything  

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that you're going to learn in this lesson. There 
is a link in the description to download that PDF  

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today. You'll see all of the modal verbs, 
all of the rules, all of the quiz answers,  

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all of the special phrases that use modal verbs. 
And you can answer Vanessa's Challenge Question at  

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the bottom of the PDF worksheet. There's a link in 
the description and you can download it right now. 

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So what in the world is a modal verb? Well, 
these are the most common, but be careful  

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because in just a minute, I'll tell you two, that 
Americans never use. May, might, must, can, will,  

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should, would, and could, these are commonly 
used in American English conversations.  

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But there are two that I've heard English learners 
use that Americans, I'm going to say never.  

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There's not often a never when it comes to 
language, but let's go with it that Americans  

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never use. And they are ought to and shall. Shall 
I cook dinner? I ought to cook dinner. Ugh. We  

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never use these in American English. So if 
you would like to sound like an American,  

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I recommend not using those verbs.
But how can you use the others? Well,  

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let's talk about the three important rules 
that you need to know. With regular verbs,  

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you need to change the verb based on the subject 
I eat, he eats, but with a modal verb, do not  

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change the modal verb. So you can say, I should 
clean my room. Do not say I shoulds, or he  

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shoulds clean his room. The modal verb always 
stays the same. I should clean my room, we should  

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clean our room. He should clean his room rule.
Number two, the verb directly after the modal verb  

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does not have two. It is not conjugated. 
It is just simple. Take a look at this.  

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He might join us for dinner. I didn't say he might 
to join us or he might joining us or he might  

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joins us. Nope. Our modal verb might stays the 
same, and then the verb directly after that will  

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also stay the same. Don't add to don't add I-N-G. 
Take a look at this one. I can help you with that.  

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Can is the modal verb and what's the verb directly 
after that help. I can help you with that.  

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I've seen some of my English students say I 
can to help you with that, or I can helping  

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with that, but really that word help just needs 
to stay by itself, help. I can help you with that. 

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And rule number three with modal verbs is when 
you form a question we need to use inversion.  

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What is inversion? Take a look at this. Can I 
go to dinner with you? What's the subject here.  

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It's I and our verb is can go. Do you see how 
we have switched the subject and the modal verb?  

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The modal verb is going to come first. Can I go 
to dinner with you? Will we be late for the movie  

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here? Our modal verb is will, and the 
subject is we. And then our extra verb is be,  

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will we be late for the movie? Should 
you be doing that? Here we have  

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you is the subject, but what's the first word. 
It's the modal verb. So when we form a question,  

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the subject and the verb are switched, 
should you be doing that? Probably not. 

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All right, before we go on to some common phrases 
that use modal verbs that I would love for you to  

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be able to use in daily life. Let's have a little 
quiz to see how much you know, I'm going to be  

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saying a little story with a blank and you need 
to choose which one is the best answer. Are you  

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ready? I was going to drive my car to dinner, 
but I think it have a flat. I think it mights  

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have a flat or I think it might have a flat. I'll 
give you three seconds to think about this answer.  

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I was going to drive my car to dinner, 
but I think it might have a flat that's  

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rule. Number one, we do not change the 
modal verb. Do not add S just might. 

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Let's continue with the quiz. Hmm, drive. Can you 
drive? You can drive. Hmm? Which one is the best?  

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Can you drive? This is rule number three, we're 
using inversion. Put the modal verb first,  

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can you drive? I look at it later. I shall look 
at it later or I should look at it later. Hmm,  

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which one's the best in American English?  

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I should look at it later. Remember, 
Americans don't use shall or ought to. 

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If you agree to drive I you 
dinner. If you agree to drive, I  

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will buy you dinner. If you agree to drive, I will 
to buy you dinner. Hmm. Which one is the best?  

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If you agree to drive, I will buy you dinner. 
This is rule number two, do not add two  

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with this verb just will buy. I will buy 
you dinner. I for your movie ticket too  

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since, I'll also need a drive home. 
I can pay for your movie ticket too,  

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or I cans to pay for your movie ticket too, 
which one feels the best? Three, two, one.  

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I can pay for your movie ticket two. Remember 
the modal verb does not change. So it stays can,  

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and you don't need to with a modal verb, I can 
pay for your movie ticket. Well, how did you do?  

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I hope you did well on that quiz because 
now it's time to take it to the next level. 

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I'd like to introduce you to six common phrases 
that are six phrases in American English,  

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that you will hear people use in conversations 
and you can use as well. And they all include a  

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modal verb. You may have heard of some of 
these before, or they may be new to you.  

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Let's start with the first one. I think I can. I 
think I can. I think I can. This phrase is from  

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this book, The Little Engine that Could, that 
almost every child in the whole us has read.  

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And we often use this phrase when there's 
something difficult or tricky that you're trying  

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to encourage yourself that yes, I can do it. I 
think I can. I think I can. I think I can. And  

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this repetition is what makes it from this book 
because the little train is trying to go up the  

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hill and it doesn't know if it can do it, but it's 
trying to encourage itself. I think I can. I think  

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I can. I think I can. So you can use this as well.
The next modal verb phrase is a fun one coulda,  

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shoulda, woulda. What does this mean? These 
are all reductions of could have, should have,  

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would have, but in normal conversation, 
fast conversation, we reduce this to coulda,  

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shoulda, woulda. We use this when we have done 
something that we regret, but we don't want to  

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keep feeling this regret. So we dismiss it with 
this phrase. Let's imagine that you have a big  

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exam and you just didn't study enough. You didn't 
sleep enough, and the exam does not go well. Well,  

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after the exam, you could beat yourself up. You 
could feel really bad about this. Maybe you feel  

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some regret, but you don't want to feel the regret 
forever. So you can use this phrase. Oh, I should  

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have studied more. Why didn't I sleep more? Ah, 
coulda, shoulda, woulda. Oh, so you're kind of  

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pushing off this stress. I'm not going to let 
this worry me, even though I regret what I did. 

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Modal verb phrase, number three is as ready 
as I'll ever be. As ready as I will ever be.  

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If someone asks you, are you ready to graduate 
college? You could say, Hmm, as ready as I'll  

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ever be. This means that you are prepared. You 
don't know if you're 100% ready, but you've done  

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your best. So you could say, yeah. I'm as ready 
as I'll ever be. Modal verb phrase number four is  

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I should hope so. I should hope so. Should is our 
modal verb, and notice how hope comes directly  

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after that. There's no to, no conjugation. 
Just, I should hope so. If somebody drives  

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their car and hits your mailbox, well, they 
should pay for your mailbox to be fixed, right?  

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So you could say, well, he's going to pay for it. 
I should hope. So this is something you expect.  

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Someone's done something bad to you and you 
expect them to make it better. I should hope so. 

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Modal verb, phrase, number five, be careful what 
you wish for, it might come true. Our modal verb  

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here is, might notice how the next verb comes 
directly after that. Come, it might come true.  

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Well, not everything that you want is really 
the best. So be careful what you wish for,  

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it might come true. If somebody says, oh, I just 
wish I could be in charge of everything. Nobody  

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knows how to do this project. You might say, Hmm, 
be careful what you wish for, it might come true.  

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If you were in charge of this project, it might 
be not as great as you imagined. It might come  

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true. And you might not be happy about it.
Our sixth and final modal verb phrase that you  

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will commonly hear in daily English conversations 
is as luck may have it. As luck may have it.  

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We use this as an interjection in the 
middle of a phrase to show that something  

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good and surprising happened. You might say I 
got a flat tire in the middle of the highway,  

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but as luck may have it, the man who helped me 
fix my tire is the man who I ended up marrying.  

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Okay, so this is destiny. You had a flat tire in 
the middle of the highway, terrible place, not a  

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good experience, but as luck may have, it may as 
our modal verb and have as the verb directly after  

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that. As luck may have it, the man who helped 
me, I ended up marrying what wonderful luck. 

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Well, great work, expanding your mind with these 
modal verbs. And now I have a question for you.  

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Can you use one of the modal verbs here on the 
screen, in the comments below? Test yourself, try  

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to use them correctly and beautifully, like you're 
speaking real American English. And don't forget  

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to download the free PDF worksheet with all of 
these rules, sample sentences, questions, ideas,  

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all of the specific fixed phrases that use 
modal verbs. All of this is available for you  

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in the free PDF worksheet. There's a link in the 
description so that you can download that today.  

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Well, thank you so much for learning English with 
me, and I'll see you again next Friday for a new  

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lesson here on my YouTube channel, bye.
The next step is to download the free  

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PDF worksheet for this lesson. With this 
free PDF, you will master today's lesson  

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and never forget what you have learned. You 
can be a confident English speaker. Don't  

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forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel 
for a free English lesson every Friday, bye.