Conjugation and verb forms of modal auxiliary verbs in the past simple
(Formation of the past simple of the modal verbs: can, must, may, used to, ought to)
Table of contents – past simple of modal auxiliary verbs
On this page you will find the following:
Formation of the past simple of modal auxiliary verbs (can, must, may, used to, ought to)
The following modal auxiliary verbs have unique forms in the past simple, which may sometimes differ in meaning. Compare the following example sentences as well as the use in the table below:
- Examples of the auxiliary verbs ‘can, must, used to, ought to’ in the past tense as they may occur in a sentence:
- “When Jim was a child, he could speak Italian fluently.”
- “The policeman said I had to get out of the car.”
- Be careful when using ‘must’ – it becomes ‘had to’.
- Information: Refer to present simple of modal verbs for present tense forms.
Verb forms of ‘can, ought to, must, used to, may’ in the past simple
The column ‘past simple’ also lists possible forms for substitution. These substitute forms may have slight differences to the standard forms:
Modal verb | Past simple & possible substitute form | Example | Comment |
can |
could |
|
There is a small difference in meaning (detailed usage: can / be able to |
must |
had to |
|
– |
may |
was/were allowed to |
|
‘may’ can also become ‘might’ for grammatical reasons (see difference ‘may/might’ |
used to (for the usage in detail, see ‘used to’ |
used to |
|
No present tense possible. |
ought to |
ought to |
|
Only occasionally used; in most cases, ‘should’ is preferred instead. |
*British English
Further explanations related to the ‘Formation of modal verbs in the past simple’
The following explanations relate to the topic ‘Conjugation and verb forms of the past simple of ‘can, used to, ought to, must, may’’ and could also be interesting: