Using “May” and “Might” in English

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“May” and “might” are modal verbs used to talk about possibility, permission, and polite requests. They are very similar, but “might” is often used when the possibility is less certain or more hypothetical.

  • Possibility:
    • “It may rain later.” (stronger possibility)
    • “It might snow tomorrow.” (weaker possibility)
  • Permission:
    • “You may leave early today.” (formal)
  • Polite Requests:
    • “May I use your phone?” (more polite than “can”)

Negative Forms:

  • “May not”: “You may not park here.” (formal prohibition)
  • “Might not”: “He might not come to the party.” (less certainty)

How “maybe” can be used instead of these forms

“Maybe” means “it is possible” and can often replace “may” or “might” at the beginning of a sentence:

  • With “may/might”: “It may rain later.” = “Maybe it will rain later.”
  • For Politeness or Permission: “May I use your phone?” ≠ “Maybe I can use your phone.” (Here, “maybe” does not work.)

More Examples

Positive:

  1. I may go to the concert tonight.
  2. She might buy a new phone soon.
  3. They may move to another city.

Negative:

  1. He may not join us for dinner.
  2. I might not finish my homework today.
  3. They might not go to the beach because of the weather.

Interrogative:

  1. May I ask a question?
  2. Might she bring her camera to the trip?
  3. May they sit here with us?

Using “Maybe”:

  1. Maybe I will watch a movie tonight.
  2. Maybe he doesn’t want to go out.
  3. Maybe they will call later.

Table of Forms

Using “May”

PersonPositiveNegativeInterrogative
II may go to the park.I may not go to the park.May I go to the park?
YouYou may leave early.You may not leave early.May you leave early?
He/She/ItHe may bring his laptop.He may not bring his laptop.May he bring his laptop?
WeWe may have lunch soon.We may not have lunch soon.May we have lunch soon?
TheyThey may visit us later.They may not visit us later.May they visit us later?

Using “Might”

PersonPositiveNegativeInterrogative
II might travel next week.I might not travel next week.Might I travel next week?
YouYou might like this book.You might not like this book.Might you like this book?
He/She/ItHe might miss the train.He might not miss the train.Might he miss the train?
WeWe might need more chairs.We might not need more chairs.Might we need more chairs?
TheyThey might call later.They might not call later.Might they call later?

Keep learning:

This is where you can learn more about ‘have to’ in English.

Go to this post to learn more about using ‘must’ in English.

Go here to learn how to use ‘should’ in English.

In this post, you’ll learn more about using ‘can’ and ‘could’ in English.

If you click here, you can learn more about ‘may’ and ‘might’ in English.

Here’s how ‘will’ and ‘would’ are used in English.