Comparison With Other Germanic Languages
Many English modals have cognates in other Germanic languages, albeit with different meanings in some cases. Unlike the English modals, however, these verbs are not generally defective; they can inflect, and have forms such as infinitives, participles and future tenses (for example using the auxiliary werden in German). Examples of such cognates include:
- in German: müssen ("to have to"), können ("to be able to"), sollen, cognates of must, can and shall respectively.
- in Dutch: mogen, moeten, kunnen, zouden, cognates of may, must, can and should.
- in Danish: måtte, kunne, ville, skulle, cognates of may/must, can, will, shall.
Read more about this topic: English Modal Verbs
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