Today, you're going to learn all about MAY and MIGHT modal verbs that you need
to use all the time but you're probably afraid to do so. If you're saying sentences like
"maybe I go", "maybe I see a friend tonight". Or "it is possible I will be late". Then you're
saying it wrongly. Native English speakers are unlikely to use those phrases. Instead
use MAY and MIGHT and today I'll show you how. These are great words that you can use in many different
situations. To talk about possibility, to speculate about the past, to refuse offers
and to mildly criticize someone. You're going to learn a lot. So stay where you are.
Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk the channel that goes deeper into everything about the
English language. And today we're going to look at MAY and MIGHT and in this video we
are going to look at these words in the present for the past MIGHT HAVE and MAY HAVE as well
as SHOULD HAVE, WOULD HAVE, MUST HAVE, COULD HAVE there is another video on this subject
coming soon. And the first question that everybody asks
is "what's the difference between MAY and MIGHT?" Well the simple answer is when we
are talking about possibility (because remember the modal verbs can have different meanings)
but when we are talking about possibility not much. MAY has a slightly higher level
of possibility. MAY 70% yes MIGHT 50% yes thought it's not really so precise though
in reality don't worry too much about that. Also MIGHT is more common in questions. Let's
have look.
So both MAY and MIGHT can be used to talk about possibility. Let's have a look at some
examples in the present. Look at this sentence.
“Where is John?” “He is in the pub.”
but you can change the verb TO BE, IS in this sentence TO MAY or MIGHT if you're not sure.
“He MIGHT be in the pub”. So get into the habit of saying "He might be in the pub" rather
than "maybe he is in the pub". So let's look at some more examples
“This tea is poisoned.” “This tea may be poisoned.”
“She might be the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.”
She may also be the most brilliant person I've ever met.”
You can use MAY and MIGHT with a continuous tense to talk about the possibility that something
is happening now. “Why is he shouting into the phone?”
“He might be having an argument with his girlfriend.”
So just substitute AM, IS or ARE in a present continuous sentence with MIGHT BE
“Don't call her now it's almost midnight - she is sleeping.” She is sleeping?
or you could say “She might be sleeping”, “she might be sleeping”. Ahh you got it.
Look at this sentence “I will be a little late.”
Now in this sentence with WILL we are talking about a certainty. “My train is cancelled
I will be late. “ But if you want to say "maybe yes, maybe no".
Then just change WILL for MIGHT "I might be a little late". Simple huh. You
can also use MAY “I may be a little late.” So I'm sure you've studied using the future
in English (WILL, GOING TO, etc) but there is no future tense in English we don't have
any future verbs but what we do have are different ways of expressing the future and MAY and
MIGHT are two of them to talk about possibility in the future. Let's look at some examples.
"I might go to India this summer". "I may have to work tomorrow."
So MAY and MIGHT are future tenses too and you didn't know that. Did you?
What about the negative? Usually for modal verbs we can contract the negative CAN'T,
COULDN'T, WOULDN'T etc MIGHTN'T? does that exist? Yes but it's extremely rare so MIGHT NOT is preferred
If you say MIGHTN'T I'm not going to stop you but. MIGHT NOT is much much more common.
MAYN'T well that's not even a word in modern English it's archaic so use MAY NOT.
"I may not go out tonight" "I might not watch the game because I'm too tired
And in the same way we can use MIGHT with
a present continuous with a future meaning. “I'm flying to Kiew on Wednesday” - that's
a certainty I've got the ticket “I might be to flying to Kiev on Wednesday”.
Here we are talking about the possibility of a future appointment. The possibility of
a future appointment so we use MIGHT BE + verb + ing.
“I may be seeing Claire tonight. “
“We had a fight and we might not be getting married next year after all.”
Modal verbs can be made into questions. “Can I have a pizza?”, “Should I bring
something to the party?”, “Will you wait for me?” But with MAY and MIGHT it's different.
Yes you can use MAY and MIGHT for questions only when we are asking for permission. Remember
modal verbs can have different meanings. For example “Might I ask a question?” "May I open
the window". that's correct but this is not what we are talking about today. No, today we are talking about
MAY and MIGHT for possibility and here we cannot form the question beginning with MAY
or MIGHT. So how do we make questions with MAY and MIGHT
for possibility? It's simple. Just use "Do you think you might...?" or "Do you think you may...?", though
the MIGHT version is more common. "Do you think she might go out with me if
I ask her?" "Do you think you might be free tomorrow night"?
"Do you think John might have the answer?"
So we use "Do you think you might...". To
indicate to the listener that there is an uncertainty about the answer
So for example "I'm sure he's wrong about this. Do you think he might change his mind?"
British people like to speak indirectly. Sometimes we don't like to say NO directly to people
it sounds a little rude. There is a more polite way using MIGHT or “I'M afraid I MIGHT.”
For example: "Do you want to come dancing with me on Saturday night?"
"I'm afraid, I might not be free."
“Would you like to see my stamp collection?” “I'm afraid, I might have to go home now.
I've got an early appointment tomorrow morning" Much gentler isn't it?
Sometimes we want to criticise people or tell them to do something but we don't want to
sound rude or bossy. So here we can use a sentence with "You might want to...".
"You should study tonight and not go to the pub." Sounds bossy doesn't it?
So let's try the sentence again with "you might want to..."
"You know, you might want to study tonight instead of going to the pub. You've got an
exam tomorrow". Sounds better doesn't it? “She's angry because you were very rude.
You might want to call and apologize.” “You've been complaining about your boss
for years you might want to get another job.” “Your computer is too slow for this software
you might want to buy a faster one. “ So there you are I hope you found that useful.
If you have something to say you might want to leave a comment thank you for watching
stay mellow and see you in the next video.