Modal verbs 肯, 敢 and 情愿
Modal verbs (情态动词) can be used to express possibility, desire, ability, and necessity. Modal verbs cannot appear without a predicate and can only appear in predicate phrases.
The modal verb 肯
肯 
expresses a desire to do something.
Unlike 愿意 and 乐意 , it has a connotation of approval or agreement with something.
It can be used in different situations:
1) expresses a desire to do something. Sometimes it conveys that in order to perform an action, you must overcome certain difficulties.
expresses a desire to do something.
Unlike 愿意 and 乐意 , it has a connotation of approval or agreement with something.
It can be used in different situations:
1) expresses a desire to do something. Sometimes it conveys that in order to perform an action, you must overcome certain difficulties.Examples
甚至到那时她还是不肯认错
Even then, she still refused to admit her mistake
shènzhì dào nà shí tā háishì bù kěn rèncuò
2) expresses a willingness to do something in response to someone else's request or demand.
Examples
他很肯帮忙
He is ready to help
tā hěn kěn bāngmáng
The negative answer to the question with 肯 may be short as a phrase — 不肯. However the positive answer must be detailed.
Pay attention
There is no short answer form of ”肯“.
Examples
您肯不肯宽恕我？—— 不肯
Will you forgive me? — No
nín kěn bù kěn kuānshù wǒ — bù kěn
您肯不肯宽恕我？—— 我肯宽恕你
Will you forgive me? — I will forgive you
nín kěn bù kěn kuānshù wǒ — wǒ kěn kuānshù nǐ
The modal verb 敢
敢 expresses having the courage and boldness to perform an action.
expresses having the courage and boldness to perform an action.Examples
你怎么敢这么说！
How dare you say that!
nǐ zěnme gǎn zhème shuō
我不敢晚上去那儿
I don’t dare go there at night
wǒ bù gǎn wǎnshàng qù nàr
Unlike the other modal verbs, to make the negation with 敢, we can use either the particle 不 or the particle 没 in cases where we are talking about the result.
Sometimes we can make the double negative as 不敢不.
or the particle 没 in cases where we are talking about the result.
Sometimes we can make the double negative as 不敢不.
Examples
我没敢进去
I don’t dare enter
wǒ méi gǎn jìnqù
我不敢不同意
I don’t dare disagree
wǒ bù gǎn bù tóngyì
The modal verb 情愿
The modal verb 情愿 is used to express a forced choice between two undesirable options. It shows “the lesser of two evils”.
is used to express a forced choice between two undesirable options. It shows “the lesser of two evils”.Examples
我情愿死，也不喝那苦药
I would rather die than drink this bitter medicine
wǒ qíngyuàn sǐ, yě bù hē nà kǔ yào
In a negative sentence, this verb shows extreme reluctance to do something. In this case, we should use the particle 地 after 情愿.
after 情愿.Examples
他非常不情愿地接受了我的命令
He was extremely reluctant to accept my order
tā fēicháng bù qíngyuàn de jiēshòu le wǒ de mìnglìng
Pay attention
Other than the verb 敢, the negative form of these modal verbs can only be formed with the negative particle 不. We cannot use the negative particle 没 with them.