まい
- 1Negative volition: expresses the speaker's firm determination not to do something.Ex. 1
- 2Negative conjecture: expresses the speaker's belief that something is probably not the case or will not happen.Ex. 2
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Mainly written or formal, found in essays, novels, speeches, and firm statements of resolve. The volition sense typically has a first-person subject and often appears as 〜まいと思う or 〜まいと決める. The conjecture sense frequently appears as 〜ことはあるまい or 〜のではあるまいか. It is more formal and literary than ないだろう or ないつもりだ.
Learners often attach まい to the ない-stem of 五段 verbs (行かまい), but 五段 verbs take the dictionary form (行くまい).
Do not use まい in casual conversation; ないだろう or ないつもりだ sound far more natural there.
Note that with a third-person subject, まい is normally read as conjecture rather than volition.
- だろうN5「だろう」 is close to 「まい」 only in its negative-conjecture sense: 「行くまい」 can be replaced with 「行かないだろう」, which attaches to the plain negative form and sounds neutral. 「だろう」 cannot express negative volition, and can also be read with a rising intonation to seek confirmation.
- はずがないN4「はずがない」 is close only to the negative-conjecture sense of 「まい」, but it concludes that something is “impossible” based on reason, more assertive than “probably won't”; it works in both speech and writing. The negative-volition sense of 「まい」 cannot be replaced with 「はずがない」.
- わけがないN3「わけがない」 is close only to the negative-conjecture sense of 「まい」, but it asserts “impossible” based on reason and logic, far stronger than “probably won't.” It has no negative-volition use and is common in both speech and writing.
- ようと思うN4「ようと思う」 means intending to do something — positive volition with no conjectural sense; 「まい」 expresses negative volition or negative conjecture, so the two are not interchangeable. 「ようと思う」 attaches to the volitional form, is stylistically neutral and common in speech; 「まい」 leans written and stiff.
- かねないN2Despite containing 「ない」, 「かねない」 means something bad is very likely to happen — a positive conjecture limited to unfavorable outcomes, the opposite of 「まい」's negative conjecture “probably won't,” so they cannot be swapped. It attaches to the ます-stem and is also common in speech.
Compared with だろう (in the form ないだろう), the conjecture sense of まい expresses the same idea in a more formal, literary way, while はずがない and わけがない assert that something is logically impossible rather than merely unlikely. In the volition sense, まい is the negative counterpart of ようと思う, and it differs from かねない, which warns that something undesirable might well happen.
