Hi, welcome to a new episode of The Art of Business English. This week we are going to take a look at past modal verbs. This is an extension of last week’s episode on modals. If you didn’t get a chance to see that one, then you can review it by clicking here.

So, let’s turn to past modal verbs. What are they? Well, they are important to make deductions and to show different levels of certainty about past events. Also, they are used to express criticism or unfulfilled wishes. Using these verbs correctly will help you to get moving in the right direction to speak English naturally.

The general form for using past modals is: modal + have + past participle

Now let’s start learning how to use them in business contexts!