The Syntactic Functions of XaH in Modern Persian

According to former studies, XǎH has always been regarded as an element forming future tense in combination with short infinitive form of lexical verbs, while its modal uses have not been touched upon. In this research, the writers first have an overview of the function of XǎH in Persian future structure and its features resembling or differing from those in non-past form of the verbs. Afterward, its functions as a modal verb has been looked into. In this study, for the first time, it has been shown that XǎH has an exceptional capacity to express all kinds and degrees of modality proposed by Palmer (1990). In other words, this verb is of the most capacity in expressing modal concepts among Persian modal verbs Based on the study, in making a distinction between modal and non-modal uses of XǎH, the context of the situation has a key role.