Meanings of English Modals in Arabic
Abstract
Arabic counterparts of English modal verbs represent a big problem for learners whether they are English or Arabs since most of these counterparts do not occur to the learners’ mind because they are not classified in any uniform manner. Each English modal concept is expressed in Arabic by several items and expressions in the literature of grammar. Even the learners of English in our society could not remember them all and each modal is rendered into Arabic by those learners via a single famous item. Modals in English are, however, a small group of single words or, in other words, they are numbered in the English language. The subject in this paper is investigated by selecting English sample sentences that are translated into Arabic by using Modern Standard Arabic which is understood throughout the whole Arab homeland.
The research presents a proper opportunity for learners to get intensified knowledge about the modals in Arabic which mostly seem vague to the English learners of Arabic and even to the learners of English in our universities. The material posed in this study is not debated by many scholars, i.e., little has been said about the subject by researchers up to now. The importance of the subject is strongly felt by varieties of learners.
This paper is restricted to Arabic counterparts of the English modal verbs. However, the modals implying complex verb phrases and complex clauses from English to Arabic are not dealt with in this research. Moreover, the Arabic counterparts of the modals: dare, used to, and need which are used as marginal or semi-modals in English are not investigated in this study. Reasonable information on the negative and interrogative Arabic counterparts of modals is taken from Arabic and English references and thoroughly analyzed by the researchers of this paper. In so doing, the material of this paper is made more concentrated and more intensive because the topic of modal counterparts in Arabic involves immense and lengthy information in the literature of grammar. For this reason, the researchers have been preparing for the subject for a long time now.
