must be able to work with must being the main auxiliary and be able to as the infinitive. Other examples include You may not dare to run or I would need to have help. To put double modals in past tense, only the first modal is changed as in I could ought to. Double modals are also referred to as multiple modals. To form questions, the subject and the first verb are swapped if the verb requires no do-support, such as Will you be able to write? If the main auxiliary requires do-support, the appropriate form of to do is added to the beginning, as in Did he use to need to fight? If modals are put in the perfect tense, the past participle of the infinitive is used, as in He had been going to swim or You have not been able to skate. In questions, the main verb and subject are swapped, as in Has she had to come? "I might could do something," for instance, is an example of a double modal construction that can be found in varieties of Southern American and Midland American English. Comparison with other Germanic languages Many English modals have cognates in other Germanic languages, albeit with different meanings in some cases. Unlike the English modals, however, these verbs are not generally defective; they can inflect, and have forms such as infinitives, participles and future tenses (for example using the auxiliary in German). Examples of such cognates include: In German: ; cognates of may, must, can, shall, and will. Although German shares five modal verbs with English, their meanings are often quite different. does not mean "to be allowed" but "may" as epistemic modal and "to like" as a normal verb followed by a noun. It can be followed by an infinitive with the meaning of "to have a desire to". means "will" only in the sense of "to want to" and is not used to form the future tense, for which is used instead. , and are used similarly as English "must", "can", and "shall". Note, however, that the negation of is a literal one in German, not an inverse one as in English. This is to say that German ("I must") means "I need to", and (literally the same as "I must not") accordingly means "I don't need to." In English, "to have to" behaves the same way, whereas English