Not being allowed to
You mustn't fix the lamp.
Left column: the order of the concepts, as chips — the slots you fill (who, action, thing, when) and the fixed words the language adds (a modal, a negator, a question marker). Click a slot, here or in the bar above, to choose what goes in it. Right column: the sentence those concepts make, the other orders the language allows, and the other ways to say it — each with what it changes. The rows are the languages switched on at the top of the page.
Try:
| Language | The order of the concepts | The sentence, other orders, other ways to say it |
|---|---|---|
| EnglishEnglish | must modalnot not 'must not' forbids. It is NOT the negative of 'have to' — see 'Not having to'. | I must not fix the lamp tomorrow. Other ways to say it I mustn't fix the lamp tomorrow. neutral spoken: mustn't, with a silent first t. I am not allowed to fix the lamp tomorrow. neutral the ban comes from outside — a rule, a doctor, a parent — rather than from the speaker. |
| FrançaisFrench | ne notdois modalpas not ne … pas round devoir forbids. English speakers expect it to mean 'don't have to' — see 'Not having to'. | demain Après-demain = the day after tomorrow. Je ne dois pas réparer la lampe demain. Other ways to say it Je n’ai pas le droit de réparer la lampe demain. neutral “I don't have the right to” je n’ai pas le droit de — 'I don't have the right to'. The ban comes from outside: a rule, a parent, a sign. |
| EspañolSpanish | no notdebo modal no + deber forbids: no debe tocar. Don't reach for no tener que — that means 'don't have to'. | mañana Also 'morning' (la mañana): mañana por la mañana = tomorrow morning. Pasado mañana = the day after tomorrow. No debo arreglar la lámpara mañana. Other ways to say it No puedo arreglar la lámpara mañana. neutral “you can't” no puede — the everyday way to forbid, and the one on signs and from officials: less solemn than no debe, which sounds like a moral rule. |
Hover a word to see which concept it fills. The verb is always in its dictionary form: every pattern here is built on a modal, which carries the person and the tense, so any verb stays grammatical in every language. Where the modal is an ending (Korean, Japanese, Hindi's 'can'), the stem is computed. What this cannot show is agreement beyond the modal — adjectives, plural objects — which the grammar chapters cover.
For the same idea said at three levels of politeness, see Compare.