100 Grammar: Modal verbs

A modal verb is used along with a a second verb to express possibility, ability, permission, or necessity. Thus words like “must,” “can” and “want” are often modal verbs apposite to main verbs. For example, “The student must study every day,” the word “must” is a modal.  In the sentence “She wants to go”  the vebr “wants” is a modal apposite to the infinitive “to go.”

Arabic, too has modal verbs such as ممكن (mumkin, “it is possible”), لازم (laazim/must/it is  necessary)  عايز (3 (aayiz want).  In the case of ممكن and لازم  are fixed, whereas عايز changes to agree in number and gender with the agent of the verb. The main verb that follows the modal is conjugated according to the person of the agent.  You thus need to master the full verb conjugation of the مضارع /MuDari’ (imperfect) tense.