Note: Tener...queis also used to state that you have something ‘to do’ without
the sense of obligation: Tengo mucho que leer‘I have a lot to read’.Haber
This is of course the auxiliary verb used to form compound tenses (see 10.9).In addition, in the forms hay que (present tense), había que (imperfect
tense) and habrá que (future tense), it is used impersonally to express a
generally applicable obligation or necessity. In the preterite it states what
was necessary and done, i.e. a completed action.Hay que lavar las sábanas. The sheets need washing.
Había que hacer cola para You had to queue to get in.
entrar.Habrá que prestar atención. We’ll have to pay attention.
Hubo que romper la ventana It was necessary to break the
para entrar. window to get in.
Nowadays less common than the above verbs, haber deis used (with a
personal subject) to express milder obligation. In some cases this is no more
than a statement of what willhappen or is expectedto happen:¿Qué hemos de hacer? What are we to do?
Juan ha de partir después de Juan will leave after dinner.
la cena.
Note: In place of deber (de), haber deis also found to express supposition, espe-
cially in parts of Latin America: Han de ser las seis‘It must be six o’clock’.Querer
As a modal verb before an infinitive this essentially means ‘to want’:¿Quieres consultar el índice? Do you want to consult the
index?
Polite requests can be conveyed by using the -raform of the imperfect
subjunctive or the conditional tense:
Quisiera/querría ver el último I should like to see the latest
modelo. model.16.4
16.3
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2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
12111
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
40
41111
16
Modal
auxiliary
verbs