English in 5 minutes! - Why are modal verbs useful for Business English? Find out! Book an Italki lesson with us: Rachel: https://teach.italki.com/teacher/1394345 Paul: https://www.italki.com/teacher/1657616 Modal verbs are words like can, could, should, may, might, and must have to. But describing what a modal verb is is actually quite a tricky thing. Modal verbs are words that we use to help us describe ability and probability. They don't actually mean anything. They just indicate to the listener whether something is likely to happen or not, whether there's an obligation. For example, if you say I must go to the meeting, I know it's important to you. If you say I have to go to the meeting, I know that somebody else has told you you've got to go. In business, usually, you're obliged to do something. So we can use these modal verbs to talk about being obliged to do something. I have to do something. I have to write this report. I must visit the customer next week. Those are obligations. But we also would use them to talk about the possibility of something happening, the probability of something happening, but also your ability to do something as well, which are all very relevant in business.