Rob must have eaten Dans cake, modals in the past

Hi guys. Dan for BBC Learning English. As you can see, I’m not at all happy about this situation. Something’s gone missing. Now, this week, we’re gonna talk about modals with a past meaning. And as usual, we’re going to do the whole thing in 90 seconds. Excuse me.

So, as you know, English has modal verbs. There are nine of them in total. Examples are: must ; can’t ; may ; might and could . Now, these verbs are normally followed by the infinitive. And they’re special because they don’t change their form for person or to show time. They have a present meaning. But, when we want to use them with a past meaning, we use the modal verb + have + the past participle . In this case, Rob must have eaten my cake .

Now, Rob must have eaten my cake is a measure of confidence. It means that I am extremely confident that Rob did this at some time in the past. When we change the modal verb, we change the level of confidence. For example, Rob can’t have eaten my cake . This means I think this is impossible. But I know he did it.

Let’s make it less certain. Rob may have eaten my cake . This means it’s possible. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. I’m not sure. And the same for might. Rob might have eaten my cake . Finally, at the lowest level of confidence, meaning this is possible but I’m not %100 sure at all: Rob could have eaten my cake . But that’s not true because Rob must have eaten my cake . Rob always eats my cake. I suppose it’s my fault.

The last set of modal verbs that we can talk about is should . When we make a mistake in the past. This is called hindsight. So, maybe I shouldn’t have left it … (alarm) I should have been a bit quicker … Maybe I shouldn’t have left it in the fridge . Maybe I should have put my cake at my desk . But Rob - come on man. Anyway guys. Modal verbs in the past. It’s modal + have + the past participle . Don’t forget. I’ve got to go and sort Rob out. See you next time OK? (Roars)