Modal auxiliaries are a type of auxiliary verb that expresses modality, which is a speaker's attitude towards the proposition expressed by the main verb. This includes things like possibility, necessity, obligation, permission, and ability.
While many languages have ways to express modality, not all languages have dedicated grammatical categories like modal auxiliaries. Some languages use other grammatical strategies, such as:
* Verb prefixes or suffixes: These can indicate modality in some languages, like in Turkish or Finnish.
* Particles or adverbs: These can convey modality alongside the main verb, like in Japanese or Korean.
* Verb inflections: Some languages use inflections on the main verb to express modality, like in Latin or Spanish.
* Word order: The order of words in a sentence can sometimes signal modality, like in English.
So, while English and many other European languages use modal auxiliaries, it's not a universal feature across all languages. The ways in which different languages express modality demonstrate the diverse grammatical structures and systems found across the world.