see for example Ho preferito scappare ("I have preferred to escape"). Thus, while in English a modal verb can be easily recognized by the sole presence of a bare infinitive, there is no easy way to distinguish the four traditional Italian modal verbs from other verbs, except the fact that the former are the only verbs that do not have a fixed auxiliary verb for the perfect. For this reason some grammars consider also the verbs osare ("to dare to"), preferire ("to refer to"), desiderare ("to desire to"), solere ("to use to") as modal verbs, despite these always use avere as auxiliary verb for the perfect. Mandarin Chinese Mandarin Chinese is an isolating language without inflections. As in English, modality can be indicated either lexically, with main verbs such as yào "want" followed by another main verb, or with auxiliary verbs. In Mandarin the auxiliary verbs have six properties that distinguish them from main verbs: They must co-occur with a verb (or an understood verb). They cannot be accompanied by aspect markers. They cannot be modified by intensifiers such as "very". They cannot be nominalized (used in phrases meaning, for example, "one who can") They cannot occur before the subject. They cannot take a direct object. The complete list of modal auxiliary verbs consists of three meaning "should", four meaning "be able to", two meaning "have permission to", one meaning "dare", one meaning "be willing to", four meaning "must" or "ought to", and one meaning "will" or "know how to". Spanish Spanish, like French, uses fully conjugated verbs followed by infinitives. For example, poder "to be able" (Puedo andar, "I can walk"), deber "to have an obligation" (Debo andar, "I must walk"), and querer "to want" (Quiero andar "I want to walk"). The correct use of andar in these examples would be reflexive. "Puedo andar" means "I can walk", "Puedo irme" means "I can leave" or "I can take myself off/away". The same applies to the other examples. See also English auxiliaries and contractions German modal particle Grammatical mood Modal logic References Modalverben Bibliography The Syntactic Evolution of Modal Verbs in the History of English Walter W. Skeat, The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology (1993), Wordsworth Editions Ltd. {Expand section|date=May 2008} External links German Modal Verbs A grammar lesson covering the German modal verbs Modal Verbs Modal Verb Tutorial Wikiversity:Explication of modalities Linguistic modality Verb types Philosophy of language