Auxiliary and Modal Verbs

Auxiliary verbs may best be explained by using the following sentence as an example:

Andro micht hae been biggin a bield. Andrew may have been building a shelter.

biggin is the main verb conveying the major bits of meaning in the sentence. Auxiliary verbs add bits of meaning onto the main verb biggin the action may then be presented as:

• possible - micht.

• having been in the past - hae / hiv (emphatic).
  hae [he] and [hɛ] in southern Scots. Hiv [hɪv, hʌv] and [hɛv] in north east central and west central Scots.

• being in progress rather than as complete - been.

Auxiliary verbs have two important properties:

• they can be negated by adding na.

• they can occur at the beginning of a question.

Modal verbs indicate whether an event or state is possible or necessary or whether a desire to do something is being expressed. These verbs have:

• no in ending.

• no s ending.

• the general properties of auxiliary verbs.

In Scots auxiliary verbs are:

• rarely used in the subjunctive mood (the mood expresses the mode or manner of an action or of a state of being), the indicative (the mood of the verb that expresses fact) is preferred in its place.

• The active infinitive (the subject of the verb is the doer of the action, the verbal idea being expressed without reference to person, number or time) is used in preference to the passive infinitive (the subject is the person or thing that sustains, rather than performs the action of the verb, the verbal idea once again being expressed without reference to person, number or time).

  active infinitive	passive infinitive
  He's no tae lippen til.	He's not to be trusted.
  Is this hoose tae lat?	Is this house to be let?

  The present participle (in or of the present tense) with the verb tae be (to be) is frequently used.

  A'm thinkin. I imagine.

  A'm no sayin that. I won't say that.

  A'm no carin. I don't care.

1. The infinitive expresses or is in the mood that expresses the verbal idea without reference to person, number or time.

   be	be
   can	can
   dae	do
   daur	dare
   hae / hiv*	have
   maun	must
   sall**	shall
   will	will

   *Emphatic forms
   **Largely obsolete, replaced by will.

   Be for indicates the sense of 'want'.

   A'll no be for that the nou. I don't want that at the moment.	Whit are ye for nou? What will you have now?
   A'm no for nae mair. I don't want any more.

   In the first person will indicates simple future.

   will ye be thare? Ay but ye will tho. Shall you be there? Yes, but you shall.
   A'll gie ye't. I'll give it to you.	A will dae that. I shall do that.	A'll daur him dae't. I'll dare him to do it.

   will is also used to indicate supposition.

   A see a body will hae been speakin wi ye. I see someone has been speaking to you.

   That's duin, A will can gang awa hame saitisfee'd. That is finished, I shall be able to go home satisfied.

   In questions will is used to express 'do you wish me to?'

   will A gang an git ane? Shall I go and get one?

   will A come roond the morn? Shall I come around tomorrow?

   Div is an interrogative and emphatic form of dae.

   Div ye hae ony? Do you have any?

   Div A hae tae come? Do I have to come?

   Sall indicates an intention. Sall is often shortened to s' [z] (often illogically written 'se).

   A s' wad. I will wager.	A s' gie ye ma warrandice I'll give you my guarantee.	A s' uphaud. I will uphold.
   Ye s' no be here - A s' aye be thare. You will not be here - I will still be there.

   Maun only expresses the conclusive meaning. Obligation is expressed by hae tae and need tae.

   Ye maun gang hame. You must go home. (It is time to ...)	Ye maun be forfochten. You must be exhausted. (judging by your appearance)
   Ye maun speir anent the job by nine. You must inquire about the job by nine. (Otherwise someone else will get it.)
   A hae tae tak the kye oot. I must take the cows out(side).
   Ye need tae pent the hoose. You must paint the house.	A hiv tae gang tae ma wark. I must go to work.
   A need tae caw ma grannie. I must call grandmother.	She'll hae tae can lauch. She must be able to laugh.
   A hae tae dae't nou. I must to do it now.

   Permission or ability is expressed by the infinitive use of can, git tae and git + gerund.

   A'll no can gang the morn. I won't be able to go tomorrow.

   Ye can hae the day aff the morn. You may have the day off tomorrow.

   Thay gat gaun til the gemme. They were allowed to go to the match.

   Thay git daffin ootby till aicht in the e'en. They are allowed to play outside until eight in the evening.

   The schuil-bairns gits tae come ben whan it teems. The school children are allowed to come in when it rains heavily.

   In colloquial speech hae is often shortened to a after coud, haed, micht, shoud and wad.

   He coud a duin it. He could have done it.	A wad a haed tae dae't. I would have had to do it.
   A wad a coud a duin it. I would have been able to have done it.

2. Past and present tense.

   Infinitive	Present		Past
   be	am is are	am is are	wis war	was were
   hae / hiv	haes*	has	haed	had
   dae*	dis	does	did	did
   	sall	shall	shoud su(l)d **	should, ought
   	will	will	wad ***	would
   	can	can	coud****	could
   	maun	must	buid	had to
   daur	daurs	dares	durst	dared

   *Haes [hez, hɪz, hʌs, hɛz]. Haes may be written his.
   Haed [hɪd, hʌd], [hɛd] in Perthshire and southern Scots and [hed] in the north. Haed may be written hid.
   **Dae is strictly speaking a <ui> word but is seldom written dui, Dis may be written daes and did written daed.
   ***su(l)d [sud] is an older and literary form which is still often used.
       The emphatic form of shoud is often written shid/shud.
   ****Note: Scots often omits hae (have) after wad.
   *****The emphatic form of could is sometimes written cud.
          Coud is pronounced [kwɪd] in many northern dialects.

   He coud hae gien ye scotch. He could have given you scotch.
   Ye wad thocht he haed duin it. You would have thought he had done it.
   A daur say, it micht hae been waur. I daresay, it may have been worse.
   I kent the days whan less wad serred him. I knew the days when he would have been satisfied with less.
   It buid tae be. It had to be.	A buid tae gang. I had to go.
   Wha wad thocht it. Who would have thought it.	Bairns shoud haud thair tongues. Children should keep quiet.
   Mony o the laums haes dee'd. Many of the lambs have died.
   Ye shoud learn tae leuk afore ye lowp. You should learn to look before you leap.
   A coud hae telt ye that. I could of told you that.	Me an him haes haed a gemme. He and I have had a game.

   Plural subject nouns combine with is and wis.
   Wis may replace war but not conversely. Scots usually uses we are and thay are.
   After a sibilated consonant the full form of is is used.
   Is can however be abbreviated to 's.

   The windaes wis aw steekit. The windows were all closed.	Is thae yours? Are those yours?
   We wis aw asleep. We were all asleep.	That'll be aw for nou. That will be all for now.
   Me an him's no chief. Him and I are not on friendly terms.	Thir's bonnie flouers. Those are pretty flowers.
   That's fine nowt. Those are fine cattle.	The swallaes is come. The swallows have come.
   Thaim that comes first's first serred. Those who come first are served first.
   The laums is oot in the pairk. The lambs are out in the field.

   In the singular and plural the past tense of the auxiliary verb be is usually wis or war. Except before or after the pronoun thay where it is usually war.

   Ye wis thare, wis ye no? You were there, were you not?	Whaur wis ye gaun? Where were you going?
   We wis gaun hame. We were going home.	Beasts wis cheaper than. Cattle were cheaper then.
   War thay baith thare? Were both of them there?	Thay war baith ben the hoose. Both of them were in the house.

   Apostrophe abbreviations.
   Nowadays only the shorter versions exist. These are not often used in written Scots.

   The'r equivalent to 'there is' or 'there are.'
   Are the? equivalent to 'is there?' or 'are there?'
   The war equivalent to 'there was.'
   War the? equivalent to 'was there?'

   Ance the war a man. Once there was a man.	Are the mony mair o yer kin? Are there many more of your sort?
   Are the onybody in? Is there anyone in?	The'r no nae time at nicht. There's no time at night.
   The'r a man doun thare. There's a man down there.
   The warna hauf sae muckle dichtin duin than. There wasn't half as much cleaning done then.

   South of the Forth, Scots uses many double modal constructions.

   He micht can come the morn. He may be able to come tomorrow.

   He micht coud dae't. He may be able to do it. (in the future)

   A shoud can mend the skathie. I ought to be able to repair the fence.

   She'll can tent the bairn. She'll be able to look after the child.

   He'll hae tae coud dae't. He'll have to be able to do it. (in the future)

   He shoud coud tak it wi him. He ought to be able to take it with him. (in the future)

   The lad maun coud muck the byre. The lad should be able to clean the cow shed. (condition)

   The horse maun can hurl the cairt. The horse can surely pull the cart.

   Ilka bairn in the toun will can say that. Every child in town ought to be able to say that.

   She wad coud milk the kye gin she ettelt. She would be be able to milk the cows if she tried.

   Thay uisst tae coud soum faur, but no the nou. They used to be able to swim far, but not now.

   Ulster Scots still uses the older present habitual be [bi:] and bes [bi:z] for a state of being that extends over a period of time.

   It dis be rainin here aft. It often rains here.

   Thay be playin fitbaw on Seturday. They play football on Saturday.

   We be frae Coleraine. We are from Coleraine.

   She bes wirkin in Belfast the nou. She is now working in Belfast.

   Burns Nicht dis be celebrate in Ulster. Burns Night is celebrated in Ulster.

   Fish bes selt at the mercat ilka Friday. Fish are sold at the market every friday.

   We bes at the dancin ilka Seturday. We go dancing every Saturday.

3. Negative infinitive.

   The auxiliary verbs are usually negated by affixing na. Some change their spelling and / or pronunciation in the process.

   Infinitive
   be	binna	be not
   can	canna	can't
   dae	dinna*	don't
   daur	daurna	daren't
   hae	haena*	haven't
   maun	maunna	mustn't
   sall**	sanna	shan't
   will	winna	won't

   *Dinna and haena may be written daena and hinna.
     Divna is an emphatic and interrogative form of dinna.
     Note disna and haesna which may be written daesna and hisna.
   ** probably obsolete. Replaced by will and winna.
   
     These usually occur:

   • In all persons of the plural except immediately following a personal pronoun.

   • Where the subject is a plural noun.

   • Where the plural pronoun is separated from the verb by some other word or words.

   See The verb ending s.

   Binna feart. Don't be scared.	A haena ony ingans. I haven't any onions.
   A dinna ken yer brither. I don't know your brother.	Ye maunna gang. You mustn't go.
   He winna skelp the wean. He won't slap the child.	A daurna tell. I daren't tell.
   He maunna tak mair aiples. He mustn't take more apples.
   She sanna wash the fluir. She has no intention to wash the floor.
   He daurna tell her he wis on the bash. He daren't tell her he was on a drinking bout.
   He canna heeze thon muckle stane. He can't lift that large stone (over there).

   In colloquial speech dinna is often shortened to di' [de] and canna to ca' [ka].

   Di' dae that. Don't do that.	A di' ken wha it wis. I don't know who it was.
   He ca' tell ye whaur it is. He can't tell you where it is.	A ca' dae that. I can't do that.

4. Negative present.

   Present
   am is are	amna isna arena	am not isn't aren't
   dis	disna*	doesn't
   haes	haesna*	hasn't

   *Note disna and haesna which may be written daesna and hisna.

   A amna gaun hame acause she isna comin wi's an you arena helpin ava. I am not going home because she isn't coming with me and you aren't helping at all.

   She haesna seen him an he disna ken whaur he's at. She hasn't seen him and he doesn't know where he is.

   Am and are usually take the full form of the adverb.

   A'm no weel. I'm not well.

   Ye're no blate. You're not shy.

5. Negative past.

   Past
   wis war	wisna warna	wasn't weren't
   haed	haedna*	hadn't
   did	didna	didn't
   shoud	shoudna	shouldn't
   wad	wadna	wouldn't
   coud	coudna	couldn't
   micht	michtna	mightn't

   *Note haedna which may be written hidna.

   A wisna gaun tae big a hoose in the winter an thay warna gaun tae gie's a haund. I wasn't going to build a house in winter and they weren't going to help me.
   Daena speir at him he michtna ken whaur't is. Don't ask him he mightn't know where it is.
   A haedna gien the seetiation muckle thocht. I hadn't given the situation much thought.
   His new sark didna ser. His new shirt didn't fit.	He shoudna fash hissel. He ought not annoy himself.
   He wadna come. He wouldn't come.	A wadna eat it gin ye peyed me. I wouldn't eat it if you payed me.
   A coudna say a hott aboot it. I couldn't say anything about it.	A coudna beir tae think on it. I couldn't bear to think of it.
   A coudna dae't. I couldn't do it.	A michtna hae tae. I mightn't have to.

   Interrogative sentences (questions) usually begin with one of the auxiliary verbs followed by the subject unless they begin with an interrogative pronoun or adverb.
   Div is an emphatic and interrogative form of dae.

   Am A no richt? Am I not right?	Are ye siccar? Are you sure?	Wha did ye see? Who did you see?
   Dinna ye ken? Don't you know?	Div ye no ken? Don't you know?	Canna ye come? Can't you come?
   Can ye no come? Can't you come?	Wad ye like a bittock? Would you like a bit?

   The affirmative answer is ay and the negative answer is na or nae, or colloquial naw.

   D'ye want an ice? Ay thanks! Would you like an ice cream? Yes please!

   D'ye want yer heid duntit? Nae! Would you like your head bashed? No!

   D'ye ken whaur Rab is? Na. Do you know where Robert is? No.

   If no auxiliary verb is used, the sentence may begin with a verb.

   Think ye sae? Do you think so?	Cam ye by Fawkirk? Did you come past Falkirk?
   Whaur haurd ye that? Where did you hear that?	Whaur gat ye yer schuilin? Where did you go to school?

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