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If someone asks you a question, for example:

明日、一緒に行く？

What is a natural way to say "maybe"?

I am familiar with various ways to express uncertainty:

多分
だろう
かもしれない

However I think none of these may sound too natural, or at least express the same light(?) feeling of English "maybe".

The best I can think of is:

うん〜考えとく。

Is there anything else that would fit here to express uncertainty?

行くかもしれない

Sounds stiff to me.

さぁ〜

Sounds too rude.

Locksleyu
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1 Answers1

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This doesn't directly address the word "maybe", but a very Japanese answer would be

まー、行けたら行く。　→　I'll go if I'm able.

Like "maybe", this gives the impression that you more than likely won't be able to go. Also note that most of the time, to a Japanese person this is just a polite, indirect way of saying "no"; the same way 難しい usually means "no" and not actually "it will be difficult".

istrasci
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  • Interesting, hadn't seen that one. By the way, I think different people may have different ideas about "maybe" in English. For example, I thought it was closer to a 50/50 chance, though it depends on their tone of voice. – Locksleyu Feb 01 '17 at 22:37
  • Is the above expression commonly said just like that? I feel that maybe "行けたら、行くけど。。。”　might be more common. – Locksleyu Feb 01 '17 at 22:38
  • They might be with a "softener" like まぁ. Edited answer. – istrasci Feb 01 '17 at 23:02