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So this past week during
a live English lesson,

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someone asked about past modal verbs.

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You know, verbs like must
have, should have, would have,

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and could have.

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And I gave a pretty good answer, I think,

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but I also made a note to myself

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that I should do a bit of a longer lesson

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on those four verbs.

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Modal verbs are a little
bit tricky to learn,

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so in this lesson, I'll
give you kind of the basics

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for using those past modal verbs.

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And I'll try to give you some
really good example sentences,

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so you can see how they're used.

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So welcome to this English
lesson about past modal verbs.

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(upbeat music)

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Let's start by talking a
little bit about pronunciation.

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The correct way to write
these would be must have,

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should have, would have, and could have.

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But as you know,

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English speakers like
to talk really quickly,

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so we normally say must've, should've,

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would've, and could've.

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Sometimes, you'll even hear
people say musta, shoulda,

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woulda, and coulda, but
that's very, very informal,

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but still quite common in spoken English.

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If you happen to see must of,
or should of, or would of,

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or could of, that's actually wrong.

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The correct way to make
the contraction is must've,

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should've, would've, and could've.

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So, that's a little bit
of information for you

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about pronunciation.

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Let's move on and start talking

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about how to use these past modal verbs.

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Let's start by talking about must have.

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We use must have when we notice
something in the present,

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when we see or hear something

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and we decide that something else happened

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that caused that situation.

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We draw a conclusion.

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Here are some examples.

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I could say this.

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There are puddles on the ground,

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so it must have rained last night.

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If I wanted to say it
quickly though, I could say,

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There's puddles on the ground,

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so it musta rained last night.

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I could say,

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There's a dent in my car,
so someone must have hit it.

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I could say,

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All of the cookies are gone,

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so the kids must have eaten them.

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Although in our house, when
all the cookies are gone,

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it isn't the kids that have eaten them.

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You can notice, though, that
I am describing a situation,

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something that I'm currently seeing

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and then I'm drawing a conclusion,

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I'm deciding that something else happened

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that caused that situation.

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Let's talk about should have.

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One of the ways I use should have

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is to describe a situation I'm in

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and then to talk about what I
didn't do that resulted in me

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being in that situation,

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to talk about something
that I didn't do in the past

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that would've prevented
the situation that I'm in.

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Here are some examples.

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The van is out of gas.

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I should've bought gas yesterday.

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We're out of milk.

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I should've bought milk yesterday.

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Or I got a speeding ticket.

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I should've driven a bit more slowly.

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So you can see I'm describing
a situation I'm in,

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something that's happening right now,

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and then I'm talking about
something that I didn't do

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in the past, maybe even
something I regret,

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especially with the
speeding ticket example.

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I got a speeding ticket.

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I should've been driving more slowly.

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So when you use should have,

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you're talking about a current situation

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and then something you
didn't do in the past

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that maybe you should have done.

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Let's talk about would have.

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One of the ways we use would have

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is to talk about something
we didn't do in the past

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and then we like to give
the reason why we didn't do it

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as well.

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Here are some examples.

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I would've bought you a birthday present,

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but I didn't have any money.

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Notice I described the situation,

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I described the thing I didn't do,

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and then I give the reason.

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Here are a couple more examples.

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I would have loved to go
to the concert with you,

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but I was too busy.

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I would've gone to work, but I was sick.

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So in all of these examples,

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we mentioned the thing that didn't happen

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and then we give the reason
why it didn't happen.

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This is a great structure for
learning how to use would have

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when you're learning English.

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Let's talk about could have.

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One of the ways to use could
have is to talk about something

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that was a possibility in the past,

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but you chose not to do it.

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Here are some examples.

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I could have bought you flowers,
but I didn't feel like it.

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I could've gone to the gym,
but I wanted to sleep in.

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I could've won the
game, but I let him win.

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Notice in all those situations,

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there was a possibility
of something happening,

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but I chose to do something different.

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So it's a little
different than would have.

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In these situations with could have,

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it's based on me choosing to do something

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because of how I felt or an action I took.

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So, I could have bought her flowers,

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but I didn't feel like it.

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It's kind of mean, isn't it?

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I should have bought her
flowers because she's awesome.

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Well, thank you for watching
this introductory lesson

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on how to use some
modal verbs in the past.

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This is a pretty big topic,

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so there's no way that one
little lesson like this

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will teach you everything
you need to know,

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but I certainly hope some
of the examples I gave

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will help you as you continue to learn

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and practice your English.

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Remember, if this is your first time here,

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don't forget to click
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if this video helped you
learn some more English.

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And if you have the time,

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why don't you stick around and
watch another English lesson.

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(upbeat music)