Dutch modal verbs: moeten, mogen, kunnen, willen

Modal verbs let you say what you must, may, can or want to do. Four of them do most of the work in Dutch, and once you know the word-order trick, they are easy to use.

The four core modals

Their present-tense forms

The singular forms are irregular, so learn them as a set:

The word-order rule

This is the one thing to get right: the modal takes the second position, and the main verb goes to the end of the clause as an infinitive.

• Ik moet dit vandaag afmaken., I have to finish this today.
• Je mag hier niet parkeren., You may not park here.
• We kunnen de meeting verzetten., We can reschedule the meeting.

A common mistake is putting the second verb too early (Ik moet afmaken dit werk). Push it to the end: Ik moet dit werk afmaken.

kunnen vs mogen: a useful distinction

Kunnen is about ability or possibility; mogen is about permission. Ik kan zwemmen means “I am able to swim”, while Ik mag zwemmen means “I am allowed to swim”.

Why modals are worth learning early

Modal verbs power almost every polite request and workplace sentence: asking for help, offering, stating what you need. We teach them with practice in lessons and the student course, especially in the Workplace Dutch module.