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u(you)ka…maika

〜う(よう)か〜まいか

meaning
• will…will not, whether…or not
• similar to『〜かどうか
• 要…,还是不要

notes
• think of『まい』as『ない

examples
1. 今晩、映画を見ようか、見まいかと迷いました。 (I’m a bit confused whether we’ll go see the movie or not.)
2. アメリカへ留学しようかまいかと迷ったことがありますか。 (Have you ever wondered to go study abroad in America or not?)
3. 話そうか話すまいか、一晩考えました。 (要不要说呢?我想了一个晚上。)
4. 私は彼女にそれについて聞こうか聞くまいか思案した。 (I debated whether to ask her about it or not.)

5 Comments leave one →
  1. October 20, 2015 4:17 am

    I’ve learned かどうか before, but this is new to me! Thanks!

    I am a little confused though on how to conjugate the verb before the まいか part.
    Are -iru and -eru and する and 来る verbs cut short like in examples 1 (見まいか) and 2 (しまいか), and the -u verbs left in dictionary form as in examples 3 (話すまいか) and 4 (聞くまいか)?

    • Trinitee permalink
      January 19, 2017 3:49 am

      The blanks in this grammar are conjugated into a casual volitional form. The new まい ending is the negative form of the affirmative casual ~おう/よう This negative short form is conjugated by adding まい to an iru/eru verb’s polite stem (before ます). For every other verb, you simply add まい after the casual short form.

      ~まい Conjugation~
      食べる >> 食べまい
      泳ぐ >> 泳ぐまい
      する >> しまい (for this irregular, even though it’s not iru/eru, you add it after the ます stem)

      • Trinitee permalink
        January 19, 2017 4:03 am

        来る >> 来るまい (irregular)

        The affirmative short volitional is 来よう (こ・よう).

  2. Trinitee permalink
    January 19, 2017 3:50 am

    I should’ve found this website sooner, I just came across it today. ありがとうございました

  3. Trinitee permalink
    January 19, 2017 4:03 am

    (I have never heard of this grammar pattern before, only かどうか)

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