शायद ... हो

Perhaps

Level 3Sounds Like śāyada ... hō

शायद means perhaps or maybe.

How It Works

शायद marks a statement as uncertain. It can start the sentence or come just before the uncertain part: शायद वह कल आएगा, वह शायद कल आएगा.

The verb form shows how sure you are:

SentenceMeaning
वह शायद कल आएगा।He'll probably come tomorrow.
शायद वह कल आए।He might come tomorrow.
शायद वह घर पर है।He's probably at home.
शायद वह घर पर हो।He might be at home.

The future and present sound closer to a fact. The subjunctive, the form for wishes and possibilities, keeps the question more open. Both are correct; choose by how sure you are.

The subjunctive of होना is हो for वह, यह and तुम, हों for हम, आप and वे, and हूँ for मैं. To make it negative, use न: शायद वह आज न आए.

For something that may already have happened, use the past form plus हो or हों: शायद वे घर पहुँच गए हों (They may have reached home already).

हो सकता है कि means much the same and usually takes the subjunctive.

Examples (5)

  1. वह शायद कल आएगा।

    He'll probably come tomorrow.

    With the future, शायद sounds fairly sure.

  2. शायद रवि आज न आए।

    Ravi might not come today.

    With the subjunctive आए, the guess is softer; न makes it negative.

  3. शायद दुकान अभी बंद हो।

    The shop might be closed now.

    हो leaves it open whether the shop is closed.

  4. मुझे शायद कल दिल्ली जाना पड़े।

    I might have to go to Delhi tomorrow.

    पड़े is the subjunctive of पड़ना, have to.

  5. शायद वे घर पहुँच गए हों।

    They may have reached home already.

    The past form plus हों gives may have.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

शायद ... होLevel 3Perhaps

Learn This First

Perhaps takes the future or, for a softer guess, the subjunctive.

Words in This Pattern

शायदहोना