Showing uncertainty using May, Might

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In English we show uncertainty about an action using "May" or "Might".
e.g. "He may go", "He might say so", "He may not tell us" etc.
These sentence indicate uncertainty in a future action.

Interestingly, in usual Marathi there no special form to indicate uncertainty in future action.
In Marathi, sentence is formed in simple future tense, but a word like कदाचित (kadAchit), एखादवेळेस (ekhAdaveLes) etc. is said to indicate uncertainty.

Example :-
He may go -> Probably, he will go -> कदाचित तो जाईल ( kadAchit to jAIl )
I may sing -> Probably, I will sing -> एखादवेळेस मी गाईन ( ekhAdaveLes mI gAIn )
He might come -> Mostly, he will come -> बहुतेक तो येईल ( bahutek to yeIl  )

"Might" is used to show uncertainty in past action.
e.g. "He might have finished it yesterday", "He might have written this"

There are two ways of saying this in Marathi. 
1) Using future perfect tense along with word indicating uncertainty.
Using future perfect tense when you want to show past perfect will sound weird in English. So English sentence is given for reference only. 

He might have gone yesterday -> Probably, he will have gone yesterday->  कदाचित, तो काल गेला असेल  ( kadAchit, to kAl gelA asel )
She might have completed it -> Probably, she will have completed it -> कदाचित, तीने पूर्ण केला असेल  ( kadAchit, tIne pUrN kelA asel  ) 
They might have returned yesterday -> Mostly, they will have returned yesterday -> बहुतेक, ते काल परत गेले असतील ( bahutek, te kAla parat gele asatIl  )

2) Second way is using special special form of verb असणे(asaNe). This way is bit old/formal way. Not used frequently.

Pronoun in English	Pronoun in Marathi	Transliteration
I (male)	मी	असावा (asAvA )
I (female)	मी	असावे (asAve )
we	आम्ही	असू (asU )
we ( listener including)	आपण	असू (asU )
You (singular male)	तू	असावास (asAvAs )
You (singular female)	तू	असावीस (asAvIs )
You (plural)	तुम्ही	असावेत (asAvet )
He / That (m.) / This (m.)	तो / तो / हा	असावा (asAvA )
She / That (f.)/ This (f.)	ती / ती / ही	असावी (asAvI )
It / That(n.) / This (n.)	ते / ते / हे	असावे (asAve )
They (Plural of He)  /Those (m.) /These (m.)	ते / ते / हे	असावेत (asAvet )
They (Plural of She) / Those (f.) / These (f.)	त्या / त्या / ह्या	असाव्यात (asAvyAt )
They (Plural of it) / Those (n.) / These (n.)	ती / ती / ही	असावीत (asAvIt  )

In below example I have show given pairs. First sentence show confirmed action and second sentence shows uncertainty. In English adding "might" shows uncertainty while in Marathi changing form of असणे(asaNe) make it uncertain.

He had gone -> तो गेला होता  ( to gelA hotA  ) 
He might have gone -> तो गेला असावा ( to gelA asAvA ) 

She has said -> ती बोलली आहे ( tI bolalI Ahe )
She might have said -> ती बोलली असावी ( tI bolalI asAvI ) 

They(f.) had danced -> त्या नाचल्या होत्या ( tyA nAchalyA hotyA )
They(f.) might have danced -> त्या नाचल्या असाव्यात ( tyA nAchalyA asAvyAt  )

Needless to say that, in सकर्मक verb, the form will be chosen as per gender and multiplicity of noun :-

You have eaten mango -> तू आंबा खाल्ला आहेस ( tU AMbA khAllA Ahes )
You might have eaten mango-> तू आंबा खाल्ला असावास ( tU AMbA khAllA asAvAs )


You have eaten tamarind-> तू चिंच खाल्ली आहेस ( tU chiMch khAllI Ahes  )
You might have eaten tamrind-> तू चिंच खाल्ली असावीस  (tU chiMch khAllI asAvIs )

Listen examples in this lesson at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWZhgb9Zrzo

Exercise: Try creating sentences with different verbs using above rules. Crosscheck them by creating same by “verb forms” feature on http://learnmarathiwithkaushik.com/  ***************************************************************
Note :-  Right hand side of the blog shows "Blog Archive". Expand it fully to see whole list of posts to Learn Marathi. Learn Marathi grammar and many aspects Marathi language online.
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