Maybe in Different Languages
Discover 'Maybe' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Maybe
Afrikaans kan wees | ||
Albanian ndoshta | ||
Amharic ምን አልባት | ||
Arabic يمكن | ||
Armenian միգուցե | ||
Assamese হয়তো | ||
Aymara inasa | ||
Azerbaijani ola bilər | ||
Bambara a bɛ se ka kɛ | ||
Basque agian | ||
Belarusian можа быць | ||
Bengali হতে পারে | ||
Bhojpuri हो सकेला | ||
Bosnian možda | ||
Bulgarian може би | ||
Catalan pot ser | ||
Cebuano tingali | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 也许 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 也許 | ||
Corsican forse | ||
Croatian može biti | ||
Czech možná | ||
Danish måske | ||
Dhivehi ފަހަރެއްގަ | ||
Dogri होई सकदा ऐ | ||
Dutch kan zijn | ||
English maybe | ||
Esperanto eble | ||
Estonian võib olla | ||
Ewe ɖewohĩ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) siguro | ||
Finnish voi olla | ||
French peut être | ||
Frisian miskien | ||
Galician pode ser | ||
Georgian შესაძლოა | ||
German könnte sein | ||
Greek μπορεί | ||
Guarani ikatu mba'e | ||
Gujarati કદાચ | ||
Haitian Creole petèt | ||
Hausa watakila | ||
Hawaiian paha | ||
Hebrew אולי | ||
Hindi शायद | ||
Hmong tej zaum | ||
Hungarian talán | ||
Icelandic kannski | ||
Igbo enwere ike | ||
Ilocano siguro | ||
Indonesian mungkin | ||
Irish b'fhéidir | ||
Italian può essere | ||
Japanese 多分 | ||
Javanese bisa uga | ||
Kannada ಇರಬಹುದು | ||
Kazakh мүмкін | ||
Khmer ប្រហែល | ||
Kinyarwanda birashoboka | ||
Konkani घडये | ||
Korean 아마도 | ||
Krio sɔntɛm | ||
Kurdish belkî | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) ڕەنگە | ||
Kyrgyz болушу мүмкүн | ||
Lao ບາງທີ | ||
Latin maybe | ||
Latvian var būt | ||
Lingala mbala mosusu | ||
Lithuanian gal būt | ||
Luganda ndowooza | ||
Luxembourgish vläicht | ||
Macedonian можеби | ||
Maithili संभवतः | ||
Malagasy angamba | ||
Malay mungkin | ||
Malayalam ഒരുപക്ഷേ | ||
Maltese jista 'jkun | ||
Maori akene | ||
Marathi कदाचित | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯇꯝꯕꯉꯝꯗꯕ | ||
Mizo maithei | ||
Mongolian магадгүй | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဖြစ်နိုင်စရာ | ||
Nepali हुनसक्छ | ||
Norwegian kan være | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) mwina | ||
Odia (Oriya) ବୋଧ ହୁଏ | ||
Oromo tarii | ||
Pashto امکان لری | ||
Persian شاید | ||
Polish może | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) talvez | ||
Punjabi ਸ਼ਾਇਦ | ||
Quechua ichapas | ||
Romanian poate | ||
Russian может быть | ||
Samoan atonu | ||
Sanskrit भवेत् | ||
Scots Gaelic is dòcha | ||
Sepedi mohlomongwe | ||
Serbian можда | ||
Sesotho mohlomong | ||
Shona pamwe | ||
Sindhi شايد | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) සමහරවිට | ||
Slovak možno | ||
Slovenian mogoče | ||
Somali waxaa laga yaabaa in | ||
Spanish tal vez | ||
Sundanese tiasa waé | ||
Swahili labda | ||
Swedish kanske | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) siguro | ||
Tajik мумкин ки | ||
Tamil இருக்கலாம் | ||
Tatar бәлки | ||
Telugu బహుశా | ||
Thai อาจจะ | ||
Tigrinya ምናልባት | ||
Tsonga kumbexana | ||
Turkish olabilir | ||
Turkmen belki | ||
Twi (Akan) ebia | ||
Ukrainian можливо | ||
Urdu شاید | ||
Uyghur مۇمكىن | ||
Uzbek balki | ||
Vietnamese có lẽ | ||
Welsh efallai | ||
Xhosa ingayiyo | ||
Yiddish זאל זיין | ||
Yoruba boya | ||
Zulu kungenzeka |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Kan wees" is also a contraction of "kan dit wees" or "can it be". |
| Albanian | "Ndoshta" originates from the Old Albanian "doshtë," "to want," and implies both "maybe" and "probably." |
| Amharic | The word "ምን አልባት" is made up of the words "ምን" (what) and "አልባት" (perhaps), so it literally means "what perhaps". |
| Arabic | In the Gulf dialect of Arabic, "يمكن" is also used to express permission. |
| Azerbaijani | The Azerbaijani word "ola bilər" could originally mean "that could be" or "it is possible" rather than "maybe" as it does in the modern language. |
| Basque | The word 'agian' is related to 'agian' ('opportunity'), 'a-gi-' ('chance') and 'egin' ('do'). |
| Bengali | The word "হতে পারে" in Bengali can also refer to possibility, likelihood, or probability. |
| Bosnian | "Možda" derives from the Old Slavic root "možd," meaning strength or firmness, implying certainty rather than uncertainty. |
| Bulgarian | The Bulgarian word "може би" can also be used to express uncertainty or doubt. |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "pot ser" (maybe) derives from the Latin "*potest esse", meaning "it can be". |
| Cebuano | In Cebuano, "tingali" originally meant "perhaps" but has since taken on a broader meaning of "maybe". |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 「也许」源于「亦需」，表示「也需要」或「也必须」 |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 「也許」是「或許」的通假，意即「大概、可能」的意思。 |
| Corsican | The Corsican word "forse" derives from the Latin "forsitan," meaning "perhaps" or "by chance." |
| Croatian | In Croatian, the word 'može biti' can also be interpreted as 'it is possible that' or 'there may be a chance that'. |
| Czech | Možná is derived from the Old Czech word 'možný', meaning 'possible', and is related to the Slovak word 'možno', also meaning 'maybe'. |
| Danish | The word "måske" is derived from the Old Norse word "má+skí", meaning "more+likely". |
| Dutch | "Kan zijn" translates to "can be" in English, but it is often used as a colloquial alternative for "maybe". |
| Esperanto | The Esperanto word "eble" comes from the Hebrew word "afel", meaning "possibility". |
| Estonian | Võib-olla originated from the old Estonian phrase "voi olla", meaning "it is possible". |
| Finnish | Voi olla is a shortened form of 'voisi olla', which can mean 'could be' or 'might be'. |
| French | The French phrase "peut être" literally translates to "can be". |
| Frisian | "Miskien" is a contraction of the Frisian sentence "it miskien", meaning "it is possible". |
| Galician | "Pode ser" can be interpreted as "maybe" in Portuguese, but its literal translation is "can be". |
| German | Könnte sein derives from the Old High German phrase 'kuonta sin', meaning 'it could be' |
| Greek | The word "μπορεί" comes from the verb "μπορώ" which means "I can" and is also used to express ability or possibility. |
| Haitian Creole | "Petèt" comes from the French "peut-être" or the obsolete form "petite" (small), which is the base word for words meaning "to a small degree"} |
| Hausa | "Watakila" is derived from the Arabic word "wa" (and) and the Hausa word "ta kila" (maybe), and can also mean "perhaps" or "possibly". |
| Hawaiian | "Paha" originates from "pakaha," which translates to "maybe; perhaps; in part; sometimes." |
| Hebrew | אולי comes from the Talmudic Hebrew word |
| Hindi | The Hindi word "शायद" derives from the Persian word "شاید" (shoyad), meaning "it is possible" or "it may be". |
| Hmong | The word "tej zaum" can also mean "perhaps" or "possibly" in Hmong. |
| Hungarian | Talán is also the Hungarian word for "perhaps" and "possibly". |
| Icelandic | The word "kannski" comes from the Old Norse word "kanske" and is related to the German word "könnte". |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "enwere ike" (maybe) also means "it is possible" or "it is not impossible". |
| Indonesian | The word 'mungkin' has several alternate meanings, including 'perhaps', 'possibly', 'it is possible', and 'it may be'. |
| Irish | The word "b'fhéidir" ("maybe" in Irish) is a contraction of "ba fhéidir" which means "it might be". It is also used to express uncertainty or indecision. |
| Italian | The Italian word "può essere" can also mean "it could be" or "it is possible". |
| Japanese | The word "tabun" (maybe) originally meant "a guess" or "a conjecture" in Japanese. |
| Javanese | bisa uga is also used in certain Indonesian dialects to express doubt or disbelief |
| Kannada | "ಇರಬಹುದು" is a compound word derived from the root "ಇರು" (to be) and the auxiliary verb "ಬಹುದು" (possibility), suggesting a tentative or possible state of being. |
| Kazakh | The word "мүмкін" in Kazakh can also mean "possible" or "perhaps", and its root "мүм" is derived from the Arabic word "ممكن" (mumkin), meaning "that which is possible". |
| Korean | '아마도' is derived from '아모' meaning 'perhaps' and has no relation to '마도' meaning 'evil way'. |
| Kurdish | "Belkî" also refers to a condition or an expectation in Kurdish. |
| Latin | The word "maybe" is derived from the Latin phrase "mea culpa", meaning "my fault" or "I am responsible" |
| Latvian | The word derives from "vai" (or) or "vai nu" (perhaps, I doubt) with the suffix "-t" |
| Lithuanian | Gal būt, also spelled gabūt, derives from an ancient Baltic word meaning "perhaps." |
| Luxembourgish | "Vläicht" comes from the Old High German word "wēlih", meaning "wavering". |
| Macedonian | The word "можеби" in Macedonian is etymologically related to "може би" in Bulgarian, both meaning "maybe", and to the Turkish word "muhakkak", meaning "certain". |
| Malagasy | The word "angamba" also means "doubtful" or "uncertain" and is derived from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian root *ngamba, which means "to tremble" or "to shake". |
| Malay | The word "mungkin" is derived from Arabic and also means "possible". |
| Maltese | The verb "jista' jkun" means "to be able to be" and can express "maybe" when followed by a clause expressing a possible state. |
| Maori | The word "akene" also means "seed" or "stone" in Maori. |
| Marathi | The word "कदाचित" in Marathi is derived from the Sanskrit word "कदाचिद्" which means "some time, at any time". |
| Nepali | "हुनसक्छ" is the contraction of "होस्" ("to be/exist") and "सक्छ" ("can") and is used as the equivalent of English "can be". |
| Norwegian | In Old Norse, “kan” originally meant “power” or “ability”, while “være” meant “to be”. Thus, “kan være” literally meant “can be”. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | Mwina shares its root word with Malawi, the native name for this Nyanja language, which means 'flames'. While there is not a literal connection between flames and the word for 'maybe', this does suggest the word is ancient and possibly originated with the fireside stories of early Malawians. |
| Pashto | The word "امکان لری" in Pashto is composed of the Arabic word "امکان" (possibility) and the Pashto suffix "-لری" (possibility, potential). |
| Persian | The word “شاید” in Persian, meaning “maybe or perhaps,” comes from Middle Persian (Pahlavi). |
| Polish | "Może" has a more formal meaning of "it is possible that" or "perhaps". |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word "talvez" derives from the Latin "talis velle" meaning "such to wish". |
| Punjabi | The Punjabi word "ਸ਼ਾਇਦ" is derived from the Persian word "شاید" (shayad), which also means "maybe". |
| Romanian | In Romanian, "poate" can also mean "maybe soon" or "it's possible that". |
| Russian | The word "может быть" can also mean "perhaps" or "possibly". |
| Samoan | Atonu can also mean 'perhaps' or 'I think so'. |
| Scots Gaelic | "Is dòcha" literally means "it is possible" in Scots Gaelic. |
| Serbian | The Serbian word "можда" derives from the Proto-Slavic word *možda, meaning "possibility". Its cognates include the Russian word "может" and the Polish word "może" |
| Sesotho | "Mohlomong" is a diminutive form of the verb "ho leka," meaning to think, and implies uncertainty. |
| Shona | "Pamwe" in Shona can also mean "along the way, perhaps, about, approximately." |
| Sindhi | The word "شايد" can also refer to "perhaps", "possibly", or "chances" in Sindhi depending on the context. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word “සමහරවිට” is derived from the Sanskrit word “सम्भवतः” (sambhavataḥ), which means “probably” or “possibly”. |
| Slovak | The word "možno" in Slovak also means "possible" and "it is possible". |
| Slovenian | The word "mogoče" in Slovenian can also mean "perhaps", "possibly", or "it is possible that". |
| Somali | This phrase can also be used to express a future possibility, like "You might be right". |
| Spanish | The Spanish word "tal vez" is composed of the words "tal" (such) and "vez" (time), and can also mean "perhaps" or "it is possible that". |
| Sundanese | The word "tiasa waé" in Sundanese originally meant "can be" but has evolved to mean "maybe". |
| Swahili | The word "labda" in Swahili can also be used to express doubt or hesitation. |
| Swedish | The word "kanske" in Swedish originally meant "perhaps it is so" but has come to mean "maybe". |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The word "siguro" is derived from the Spanish word "seguro", meaning "certain" or "sure". |
| Tajik | Derived from Persian, "мумкин ки" (мумкин ки) may also mean "it is possible that" or "there is a chance that". |
| Telugu | The word "బహుశా" is derived from the Sanskrit word "बहु" (many) and "शः" (likely), hence meaning "possibly" or "probably". |
| Thai | "อาจจะ" is derived from the Sanskrit word "iccha" meaning "intention" or "will", and is related to the Thai word "ตั้งใจ" meaning "to intend". |
| Turkish | The word "olabilir" can also mean "it is possible" or "it might be" in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | The word "можливо" can also mean "optionally, perhaps" or "it is possible". |
| Urdu | Urdu "شاید" derives from the Arabic word "شئ" ("thing"), meaning "that thing" or "that which" in the sense of "possibly" or "maybe." |
| Uzbek | Balki is also used to express uncertainty or to avoid giving a definite answer. |
| Vietnamese | The word "có lẽ" is derived from the Chinese word "可能", meaning "possible", and can also mean "likely" or "probably". |
| Welsh | From the word 'effallai', 'efallai' comes from 'efall', 'fall' or 'fall'. In Irish, 'fall' means 'perhaps', but in Welsh it only means 'fall' or 'fall' and never means 'perhaps' or 'maybe'. |
| Xhosa | 'Ingayiyo' is an ambiguous word that can also mean 'in a while', 'a short while ago', 'recently', 'soon', 'presently', 'for the time being', or 'just now'. |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish term "זאל זיין" also means "let it be" or "may it be" in a wish or prayer. |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word "boya" also means "perhaps", "possibly", or "by chance" |
| Zulu | Kungenzeka comes from the Zulu word 'kunga', meaning 'to be possible', and '-enzeka', meaning 'to happen'. |
| English | The word "maybe" originated in the Middle English phrase "may be," which expressed possibility or permission. |