Modals? What are modals?
Modals is a grammatical term that is pretty much unknown
to everyone except grammar teachers.
You know what they are though.
Have you ever wanted to say 'I can go,' 'I should go,' 'I want to go,' 'I need to go,' or 'I may go' ?
If so, you've wanted to know how to use modals! Modals are simply combining verbs such as may, want, need, can and should with another verb.
That is all there is to it! See, modals are not so bad, but everyone uses them in conversation.
Now you can go out, speak Korean, use modals, and communicate well!
Oh, right. You still want to know how to use them in Korean. Well, here we go!
To Want
To Need, To Have To
Can, Be Able To
May, Have Permission
Random Practice
To Want
There are two things to consider when thinking about the verb 'to want'.
To want a noun.
To want to do something (verb).
Since we are talking about modals, or conditions of verbs, we are going to cover the second one in depth.
To want a noun
Alright. I will mention the first as well! The verb is:
원하다 - To want (a noun).
You use 원하다 when you say something like 'I want an apple.' 사과를 원해요. 'I want a car' 차를 원해요. 'I want a house' 집을 원해요.
To want (to do)
What if you want to say 'I want to go'? Would you say 가다 원해요? At first, you may think so. Unfortunately, we cannot simply take the infinitive for 'to go', 가다, and stick it before 'to want'.
There is another pattern you must use. The verb 'to want' becomes ~고 십다.
Now, take that infinitive, 가다, and drop the 다. This gives you the verb base, or simply 가 in this case. Now all you have to do is add the new verb! 가고 싶다.
When you say it in a sentence, 싶다 will change just like any other verbs. It becomes 싶어요.
