When do you use 'may' for formal permission?

Example: "You may deploy to production once QA signs off."

← All modal verbs

Modal verb

may

Q: When do you use 'may' for possibility?

Example: "This endpoint may return a 404 if the resource was already deleted."

may + base verb (no 's', no 'to')

Uses

Formal permission

“You may deploy to production once QA signs off.”

Possibility

“This endpoint may return a 404 if the resource was already deleted.”

Common mistakes

✕“It mays fail under load.”

✓“It may fail under load.”

✕“You may to access the admin panel.”

✓“You may access the admin panel.”

Choose the correct modal

Pick the modal that fits the meaning of each sentence.

You deploy to production once QA signs off.

This endpoint return a 404 if the resource was already deleted.

Spot the correctly formed sentence

Only one option follows the rules for modal verbs. Pick it.

Previous: could Next modal: might

Ready to practice your English at work?

Lingua-e has interactive exercises built around real developer conversations: standups, code reviews, retrospectives, and more. Practice until it comes naturally.

Try Lingua-e for free

Written by

Roxana Lafuente

Lingua-e's founder

Roxana Lafuente is a software engineer with 8+ years of experience. At the beginning of her career, even though she had already passed the First Certificate in English, she still froze every time she had to speak up in the daily standup. That was a gap nobody was fixing. After 2,000+ standups, she figured out what actually builds fluency: practice that looks like your real work. She built Lingua-e so other developers wouldn't have to take the long road to feel confident working in an international development environment.