1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton],The Anatomy of Melancholy:[…], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire:[…] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 6:
But many times[…]we give way to passions wemay resist and will not.
Do you think hemay be lying?; Schrödinger's catmay ormay not be in the box
Sammay be intelligent, but he isn't wise. [This speaker does not know with certainty whether Sam is intelligent, but the speaker allows the possibility.]
The resultmay not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.
Youmay be my boss, but that doesn't mean you can insult me.]
A: Sigh. I'm bummed that Stephen Hawking died. B: Well, hemay have died, but he's still alive in our hearts. [This speaker does not doubt that Stephen has died; nonetheless, the verb inflection is not different.]
Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yieldsmay have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.
May God bless and keep you always /May your wishes all come true /May you always do for others / And let others do for you /May you build a ladder to the stars / And climb on every rung /May you stay forever young
May is now adefective verb. It has no infinitive, no past participle, and no future tense. Forms ofto be allowed to are used to replace these missing tenses.
The simple past (both indicative and subjunctive) ofmay ismight.
The present tense is negated asmaynot, which can be contracted tomayn't, although this is old-fashioned; the simple past is negated asmightnot, which can be contracted tomightn't.
May has archaic second-person singular present formsmayest andmayst.
Usage of this word in the sense ofpossibly is considered incorrect by some speakers and writers, as it blurs the meaning of the word in the sensehave permission to. These speakers and writers prefer to use the wordmight instead.
Conversely, sincemay not is particularly likely to promote confusion between the senses of "will possibly not" and "is forbidden to," some rules for the drafting of laws and regulations proscribe "may not" and require the use of "must not" or similar for clarity. Example:[2]
Wishes are often cast in the imperative rather than the subjunctive mood, not using the wordmay, as inHave a great day! rather thanMay you have a great day. The use ofmay for this purpose may lend a more formal, literary, or solemn feeling (perhaps jocularly so) to the wish. Moreover, wishes in the subjunctive need not usemay if the meaning is clear without it, which is the case mainly for established expressions in the third-person singular such asGod help you.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Soo it befelle in the moneth of May / quene Gueneuer called vnto her knyȝtes of the table round / and she gafe them warnynge that erly vpon the morowe she wold rydeon mayeng in to woodes & feldes besyde westmynstre. "So it befell in the month of May, Queen Guenever called unto her knights of the Table Round; and she gave them warning that early upon the morrow she would ridea-Maying into woods and fields beside Westminster."
In contrast toaduna andanaa, which behave as verbs and could thus takepostpositive enclitics,may is a particle and is used immediately before the word modified.
1 The conjugation-niku is only for theAyacucho-Chanca variety. 2 The form -sun refers to "you and I together", while the form -sunchik refers to "you and I and other people".
May is used immediately before the thing possessed or existing, whereasmayroon can be separated byenclitics (e.g.lang,kaya, andako). Sentences like *may ako pagkain would be ungrammatical.
