Modal Verbs of Deduction: must, can't, might have
ஊகிக்கும் வினைச்சொற்கள்
These modals let you reason aloud about something you're not certain of — deducing what must be true, what can't be true, and what might have happened, all from available evidence.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Deduction about the present vs. deduction about the past
She must be tired. (present deduction) vs. She must have been tired. (past deduction, adding have + participle)
அவளுக்கு களைப்பா இருக்கும். / அவளுக்கு களைப்பா இருந்திருக்கும். (a similar present/past split, marked with a slightly different ending)
Both languages let you reason about certainty in either the present or the past, but English marks the shift by inserting have + past participle after the modal — must be (now) becomes must have been (back then). The same layering applies to can't (impossible) and might (uncertain): can't have left, might have forgotten. Treat 'modal + have + participle' as a single grammatical unit for reasoning about the past, parallel to how Tamil's own past-tense ending shifts the same deduction backward in time.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- Tamil (English explanations)
- அவளுக்கு களைப்பா இருக்கும்.avaḷukku kaḷaippā irukkum.
- Tamil (English explanations)
- அவளுக்கு களைப்பா இருந்திருக்கும்.avaḷukku kaḷaippā irundhirukkum.
- Tamil (English explanations)
- அவன் ஏற்கனவே போயிருக்க மாட்டான்.avan ēṟkaṉavē pōyirukka māṭṭān.
- Tamil (English explanations)
- அவங்க மறந்திருக்கலாம்.avanga maṟandhirukkalām.