LEARN + JAPANESE / Note 92 JLPT N4
Might Be (〜かもしれない)
かもしれない attaches to the plain form of a verb, adjective, or noun and marks a statement as merely possible, somewhere well below だろう in how confident it sounds.
It might rain tomorrow.
Daisuke might not come today.
In Real Life
かもしれない sits at the low end of a certainty scale that also includes だろう and でしょう, which you already know. だろう leans toward “probably,” かもしれない just says “possible, no more than that,” a genuinely open guess rather than an educated one.
This curry might be spicy.
Naoki might be busy.
Saya might not be home right now.
In Real Life
Nouns and な-adjectives drop だ entirely before かもしれない: 家だ becomes 家かもしれません, never 家だかもしれません. Verbs and い-adjectives attach in their plain form with no change, and かもしれない itself never conjugates to match politeness, only しれません softens it for polite speech.
Vocabulary
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| to fall (rain, snow) | |
| spicy | |
| busy | |
| to be late | |
| to make it in time | |
| injury | |
| typhoon | |
| earthquake | |
| dangerous | |
| possibility | |
| probability | |
| forecast | |
| anxiety, unease | |
| before long, soon | |
| perhaps, possibly | |
| to postpone | |
| to cancel, call off | |
| to break down | |
| to make a mistake | |
| to change |