Lesson 19:
Grammar - "May,
Maybe": Expressing Possibilities in Chinese
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Lesson 19 “May, Maybe” – how
to express possibility
In lesson 18, we show you how to
express that you are able (and often ‘allowed’) to do
something.
Here, we will give a simple
introduction on how you describe a possible situation and/or
action.
1.
可能kei3 neng2
Adv. From previous classes,
you may have already known the characters可
and 能.
Both characters can mean ‘capability’ and ‘possibility’
individually. When put together, the word they make up of
always means probability/chance/possibility.
In a sentence,
可能is
put ahead of “verb (+ noun)” structure, just like “May” in
English.
See the following example:
2.
他可能喜欢数学
ta1
kei3neng2 xi3huan1 shu4xue2
He
perhaps/may likes math.
3.
我可能很快辞职
wo3 kei3neng2 hen3kuai4 ci2zhi2
I may soon quit (my job).
4.
不可能
bu2kei3neng2
“cannot, improbable to, unlikely to”.
Here,
不is
put ahead of可能.
It means the situation/action that follows is very unlikely
happen. The negative sense is used toward to ‘可能’likelihood.
This is different from the case when不is
put behind可能,
which will be explain later in this class.
Compared with不可能
in point 4,
不is
put behind可能.
It means the situation/action that follows is likely to happen
in negative sens. The negative sense is used toward to the
situation/action rather than ‘可能’likelihood.
8.
她可能没有三十岁
ta1
kei3neng2 mei2you3 san1shi2sui4
She may not be 30 years old.
*Compared with point 5., it
shows a less degree of certainty because, again, negative sense
is used toward ‘有’
not ‘可能’.
