Is it possible? It may be, or it might be.
- Joanne
- Apr 3
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 7
May and might are used to say whether something is possible.
Let's look at the following dialogue:
"Has anyone seen Joe?"
"He might be in his room."
"He may be playing football."
We use may or might when we don't know what the definite answer is, only that something is possible.
"Have you seen my phone?" "It might be in your bag."
"I may have seen your brother with it this morning. Ask him, he might know where it is."
Plans for the future
We use may and might to talk about possible plans for the future:
"I might go to Spain this summer."
"We may visit our family in France this Easter."
Compare this with going to, which is when we have decided to do something:
"We are going to Spain this summer." means that we have definitely decided to do that.
Negative use
Used in the negative we would say:
"I might not go to Spain again this summer, it was too hot there last year." - this means the speaker is still thinking about going, but hasn't decided.
"Anna had a migraine this morning, she may not be well enough to join us for dinner tonight." - at the time of speaking we don't know.
"Adam wasn't at the meeting, he might not have known about it."
The past
We can also use may and might to talk about the past:
"I didn't see Kathy at work today, she may have taken the day off."
"Sam didn't answer the phone when I called, he might have been asleep."
Hypothetical situations
May and might are used for hypothetical situations (when something is not necessarily real or true)
If it's more probable that something could be true we use may.
"We may have been able to get a discount if we had booked earlier."
"I may have been able to see Tom at the bus stop, if I had left the house earlier."
If it's less probable we use might.
"I might have been an astronaut if I'd studied harder at school."
"I might have won the lottery if I'd bought a ticket!"
Permission
We use may to ask for permission:
"May I open the window? It's very hot in here."
"May I ask you a question?"
Often we hear people say "Can I open the window?" or "Can I ask a question." This is not technically correct since can refers to the ability to do something whereas may asks for permission.
Summary
In most cases you can use either may or might to talk about whether something is possible.
Exceptions:
Use may (not might) to ask for permission.
In hypothetical situations if something is more likely use may, if it's less likely use might.
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