～かもしれない

RulePlain form + kamoshirenai: low-confidence possibility, "might / may."

Curiosity

How do you express a low-confidence but open possibility, as in "it might rain," in Japanese? How does its certainty differ from hazu da?

Intuition

kamoshirenai is an open possibility of 50% or less — "could be, could not." It is weaker than hazu da (logical confidence) or darou (a fair guess). A cautious tone of "perhaps, just maybe."

Visualization

furu → furu kamoshirenai (it might rain). It attaches straight to the plain form. Casual: shortens to ~kamo.

降るdictionary (plain)

Essence

Plain form + kamoshirenai (furu kamoshirenai, takai kamoshirenai). Nouns/na-adjectives drop da (gakusei kamoshirenai, shizuka kamoshirenai). Casual contraction: ~kamo. Confidence scale: hazu da > darou > kamoshirenai. Politely: ~kamoshiremasen.

Examples

午後は雨が降るかもしれません。

It might rain in the afternoon.

彼はもう帰ったかもしれない。

He might have already gone home.

明日は休みかも。

Tomorrow might be a day off. (casual)

Mini-quiz

Which fits the low-confidence "I am not sure, but he might be right"? (tadashii)