Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the translation of modal verbs in the novel "Little Women" by Louise May Alcott. The object of this research is the categories of modality in a work of art. The subject of the study is the ways of transferring modality from English to Russian when translating the novel "Little Women" by Louise May Alcott. The relevance of this work is due to the fact that the transfer of modality from English to Russian and vice versa presents certain difficulties for the majority of Russian-speaking students. The author considers the classification of modal verbs, as well as the meanings they acquire in the process of translating this literary text. В  The scientific novelty of the article is due to the need to study such a universal concept as modality, which in each case, depending on the communicative situation, conveys not only facts, but also evaluates what is happening. The article solves the following main tasks: to analyze the meanings of modal verbs and the frequency of their use in this work, as well as to present possible translation options. As a result, we found that modality presents difficulties in translation due to the fact that in various communicative situations it can acquire an additional emotional load, which, if misinterpreted, can distort the essence of the utterance.