Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to conjugate and use the three essential Italian modal verbs: potere, dovere, and volere.

Lesson Explanation

Modal verbs express ability, obligation, and desire, and are always followed directly by an infinitive with no connecting preposition — genuinely simpler in structure than some English modal-plus-verb patterns.

Potere (can/to be able to):

posso, puoi, può, possiamo, potete, possono

Dovere (must/to have to):

devo, devi, deve, dobbiamo, dovete, devono

Volere (to want):

voglio, vuoi, vuole, vogliamo, volete, vogliono

Examples: Posso aiutarti? (Can I help you?), Devo studiare. (I have to study.), Voglio andare in Italia. (I want to go to Italy.)

A genuinely important detail affecting the passato prossimo (Part 4, Lessons 1-2): when a modal verb is followed by an infinitive that would itself take essere, the modal verb ALSO switches to essere — though in everyday spoken Italian, using avere throughout is very widely accepted as well:

Sono dovuto andare. OR Ho dovuto andare. — I had to go. (both heard in practice, though the essere version is technically more traditionally correct)

Object pronouns can attach to the infinitive or precede the modal verb, exactly like the flexibility already seen in Part 3, Lesson 1: Posso farlo. OR Lo posso fare. — both mean “I can do it.”

Practice Questions