Modal Verbs of Possibility: might, may, could
सम्भावना सूचक सहायक क्रियाएँ: might, may, could
These three modals hedge a statement without committing to it, and Hindi has two common ways to do the same job — the सकना auxiliary (सकता/सकती/सकते है) and the adverb शायद — each mapping onto English's might/may/could slightly differently.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
सकना covers both 'can' and 'might' — English splits these into separate words
It might rain. (genuinely uncertain, weaker than 'will')
बारिश हो सकती है। (सकती है, the same auxiliary used for ability/'can', doing double duty for possibility here)
Hindi's सकना auxiliary (सकता/सकती/सकते + है) is the same word Hindi uses for physical or practical ability — मैं तैर सकता हूँ, 'I can swim' — and for hedged possibility — बारिश हो सकती है, 'it might rain'. English keeps these two senses apart: can is reserved for ability or permission, while might, may, and could are the dedicated words for uncertainty. Watch for the temptation to translate सकती है as 'can' out of habit even when the meaning is really a hedge — 'Rain can happen' sounds like a general fact about weather, not the genuine present uncertainty that 'It might rain' conveys.
शायद + ordinary verb as a second, equally common way to hedge
She may be at home. (may as a dedicated hedging modal, no extra adverb needed)
शायद वह घर पर हो। (शायद, 'perhaps', placed at the front, with an ordinary verb carrying no special modal marking of its own)
Alongside सकना, Hindi hedges just as often with the adverb शायद sitting at the front of the sentence, leaving the verb itself in a perfectly ordinary form (हो, होगा) — the hedge lives entirely in शायद, not in the verb. English instead concentrates the entire hedge into the modal verb itself (may, might, could) and needs no separate adverb alongside it — 'she may perhaps be at home' would be redundant. Either Hindi strategy, शायद or सकना, is fine to reach for mentally when producing might/may/could, but remember English channels the whole hedge into the modal word alone.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| English | Pronunciation | Hindi |
|---|---|---|
| It might rain. | it myt rayn | बारिश हो सकती है।bāriś ho saktī hai. |
| She may be at home. | shee may bee at hohm | शायद वह घर पर हो।śāyad vah ghar par ho. |
| I could be wrong. | eye kood bee rong | हो सकता है मैं ग़लत होऊँ।ho saktā hai maiñ galat hoūñ. |
| We might go tomorrow. | wee myt goh tuh-MAW-roh | हो सकता है हम कल जाएँ।ho saktā hai ham kal jāeñ. |