In linguistics, modal particles are always uninflected words, and are a type of grammatical particle. Their function is that of expressing the mood of a verb. They are often used to indicate how the speaker thinks that the content of the sentence relates to the participants' common knowledge. Languages that use a lot of modal particles in their spoken form include Dutch, German, Indonesian and Japanese. The translation is often not straightforward and depends on the context.
- Fabian Bross (2012): German modal particles and the common ground. In: Helikon. A Multidisciplinary Online Journal, 2. 182-209.
- Dutch Grammar:politeness - Beleefdheid Modal particle - Modale partikels retrieved 2009-01-01
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