Past tense of may
irregular verb
The past tense of may is might. The past participle is also might.
Forms of may
| Base form (V1) | may /meɪ/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | might /maɪt/ |
| Past participle (V3) | might /maɪt/ |
| Third person singular | may /meɪ/ |
Might in a sentence
- A legislative remedy might be some harsh medicine; is that cure worse than the ill?From the entry medicine
- They make beef stock from the butchery scraps that they otherwise might not have used.From the entry stock
- The best medium might be petroleum, liquified gas, or something of that nature.From the entry nature
- He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what.From the entry or
- For those of a certain age, hiphop vernacular might just as well be a foreign language.From the entry vernacular
Meaning of may
- verb To be strong; to have power (over).
- verb To be able; can.
- verb To be able to go.
Verbs like may
Questions about the past tense of may
- What is the past tense of may?
- The past tense of may is might.
- What is the past participle of may?
- The past participle of may is might.
- Is may a regular or irregular verb?
- May is an irregular verb: its past tense is not formed with -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: may (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of may.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/may. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.