Modals express under what conditions something happens. Toaq has four of them: she, daı, ao, and ea. When used with a complement, like âo x nä y, (where x is a CP) they work like this:
| does x happen in this world? |
if it did, would y happen? | |
|---|---|---|
| she | yes | yes |
| daı | yes | maybe |
| ao | no | yes |
| ea | no | maybe |
This is presented in the refgram as
| indicative | subjunctive | |
|---|---|---|
| necessity | she | ao |
| possibility | daı | ea |
Without a complement, they are given the falling tone, nä isn't used, and the restriction is left a mystery.