KS3 · Spanish · Year 7
What I have to do: singular modal verbs
What we can and must do: -AR verbs 1st person plural, modals 'poder' 'deber'
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IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/11
Your learning goal
I can use singular modal verbs to talk about what I can, must or want to do.
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What I have to do: singular modal verbs: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can use singular modal verbs to talk about what I can, must or want to do.
Key learning points
- The SSC [ca] is pronounced as in 'casa', [co] as in ‘comer’ and [cu] as in ‘cuerpo.
- The modal verb ‘deber’ means ‘must’ and we use it to talk about obligations.
- The modal verb ‘poder’ means ‘can/be able to’ and we use it to talk about possibility.
- The modal verb ‘querer’ means ‘to want, wanting’ and we use it to talk about what we want to do.
- All modal verbs are followed by an infinitive.
Words to know
- modal verbs
- verbs of necessity and possibility used with a 2nd verb in the infinitive, e.g. must, can, want
- deber
- modal verb that means to have to, must with singular forms ‘debo’ - I must, ‘debes’ - you must, ‘debe’ - she, he, it must.
- poder
- modal verb that means to be able to, can, with singular forms ‘puedo’ - I can, ‘puedes’ - you can, ‘puede’ - she, he, it can
- querer
- modal verb that means to want, wanting with singular forms ‘quiero’ - I want, ‘quieres’ - you want, ‘quiere’ - she, he, it wants.
Common mistakes
The word 'si' means both 'yes' and 'if'.
In Spanish there is a difference between them: 'sí' with an accent means 'yes', and 'si' without an accent means 'if'.
For parents, carers and teachers
- The teacher might want to ask students to write a letter to 'Agony Aunt' explaining what they want to do, but can't because they must do something else.