Verb Reference: maaari | Filipino Grammar

The high-frequency word maaari expresses permission or possibility. It is especially common in formal notices, careful explanations, public announcements, and professional conversation. Unlike an English verb such as may, it does not change for person, number, voice, or aspect. The clause after it carries those distinctions.

This is therefore an unusual root reference: the useful network consists mainly of maaari, its linker form maaaring, negation, particles, and different complement frames—not a manufactured conjugation paradigm.

Core forms and functions

Form or frame	Typical function	Register
maaari + ang-form actor + -ng + basic actor voice	permission for the actor to act	neutral-careful, formal
maaari + ng-form actor + -ng + basic patient/undergoer voice	permission involving a selected patient	neutral-careful, formal
maaaring + proposition	possibility or a tentative conclusion	formal, academic
maaari ba	request for permission	polite, formal
hindi maaari / hindi maaaring	impossibility, inadmissibility, or prohibition	formal
maaaring hindi + proposition	possibility that something will not happen or is not true	formal, academic

The spelling changes to maaaring before a following word or clause because the linker -ng attaches after a vowel. This is the same linker described in modal predicates and their complements; it is not an aspect ending.

Maaari akong sumagot pagkatapos ng pulong.

I may answer after the meeting.

Maaari mong kunin ang sertipiko sa tanggapan bukas.

You may collect the certificate at the office tomorrow.

The first example has an actor-voice complement, so the permitted actor is ako, the ang-form pronoun. The second has patient/undergoer voice: the selected certificate is ang sertipiko, while the actor appears as ng-form mo. The modal itself stays unchanged.

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Do not ask which voice maaari is in. Ask which voice the following action uses. That voice determines whether its actor is ang-marked or ng-marked.

Permission: two voice frames

Voice lets a speaker organize the same general situation around different participants. With an actor-voice action, the permitted person is the pivot. With a patient/undergoer-voice action, a definite or contextually selected thing is the pivot.

Maaari kang kumuha ng kopya sa harap.

You may take a copy from the front.

Maaari mong kunin ang kopyang may pangalan mo.

You may take the copy that has your name on it.

The first sentence introduces a nonspecific copy with ng kopya. The second identifies a particular copy with ang kopyang may pangalan mo. English uses you may take for both and hides this shift; Filipino expresses it through the complement's voice and markers.

For a courteous request, add ba, and add po when the social setting calls for respect.

Maaari po ba akong maupo rito habang naghihintay?

May I sit here while I wait?

Maaari is natural here, but noticeably more careful than puwede. In everyday conversation, many speakers would ask Puwede po ba akong maupo rito? The distinction is register, not a difference in politeness by itself; po supplies the overt respectful signal.

Possibility rather than permission

When the following clause describes an event rather than a voluntary act by a person, maaari normally means it is possible or may. This use is frequent in reports, instructions, and analytical prose (formal/academic).

Maaaring tumaas ang tubig sa ilog kapag nagpatuloy ang ulan.

The water in the river may rise if the rain continues.

Maaaring naiwan ni Celia ang susi sa sasakyan.

Celia may have left the key in the vehicle.

Aspect belongs to the embedded event. Here tumaas is the basic actor-voice form licensed by the modal; its future-oriented interpretation comes from the possibility and conditional context, not from contemplated morphology. Naiwan presents a possible completed result. There is no completed or contemplated form of maaari itself.

This also explains why maaari is not a universal translation of English can. For learned or physical ability, Filipino commonly uses kaya or an ability verb in maka-, as explained under ability with maka- and ma-.

Maaari siyang lumangoy dito, pero hindi niya kayang tumawid hanggang sa kabilang pampang.

She is allowed to swim here, but she cannot manage to cross to the opposite bank.

The first half grants permission; the second denies capacity. Translating both English meanings with one Filipino form erases an important contrast.

Negation and scope

Word order changes what negation takes scope over. Hindi maaaring + action often means that the action is impossible, inadmissible, or prohibited. Maaaring hindi + proposition means that the negative proposition is possible.

Hindi maaaring pumasok ang bisita nang walang pagkakakilanlan.

A visitor may not enter without identification.

Maaaring hindi pumasok si Nena bukas dahil may lagnat siya.

Nena may not come in tomorrow because she has a fever.

The first is a rule; the second is a prediction. English may not is ambiguous between these meanings, so the Filipino position of hindi deserves deliberate attention.

In short exchanges, the action can be recovered from context:

—Maaari ba akong magtanong? —Maaari, pero sandali lang.

—May I ask a question? —You may, but just briefly.

This omission is natural because the question has already supplied the action. A bare Maaari in isolation, without such context, can sound incomplete.

Particles and useful collocations

Common combinations include maaari rin “is also possible,” maaari naman “is possible, on the other hand,” and maaari lamang “is only permitted/possible” (formal). The linker and particles follow normal clitic ordering.

Maaari ring isumite ang aplikasyon sa koreo.

The application may also be submitted by mail.

Here rin follows a vowel-final word. In a restrictive notice, lamang is more formal than conversational lang:

Maaari lamang gamitin ang silid hanggang alas-singko.

The room may be used only until five o'clock.

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For a public notice, policy, or careful written explanation, maaari is often the natural choice. In relaxed conversation, puwede usually sounds less official.

Common Mistakes

English speakers often memorize maaari = may/can and then overlook the argument frame of the following verb.

❌ Maaari ako kumuha ng numero.

Incorrect — the vowel-final pronoun needs the linker -ng before the complement.

✅ Maaari akong kumuha ng numero.

I may take a number.

❌ Maaari ako kunin ang aking pasaporte.

Incorrect — a patient/undergoer-voice complement selecting the passport requires the ng-form actor.

✅ Maaari kong kunin ang aking pasaporte.

I may collect my passport.

❌ Hindi maaaring hindi dumating ang suplay.

This normally means that the supplies must arrive, not merely that they might fail to arrive.

✅ Maaaring hindi dumating ang suplay ngayong linggo.

The supplies may not arrive this week.

❌ Maaari siyang magsalita ng Filipino dahil lumaki siya sa Maynila.

Misleading if the intended meaning is ability: maaari suggests permission or possibility.

✅ Kaya niyang magsalita ng Filipino dahil lumaki siya sa Maynila.

She can speak Filipino because she grew up in Manila.

Key Takeaways

Maaari is an invariant modal predicate; voice and aspect occur in its complement.
Actor voice commonly pairs with an ang-form permitted actor; patient/undergoer voice commonly pairs with a ng-form actor and an ang-marked selected patient.
Hindi maaaring and maaaring hindi have different scopes.
Its core meanings are permission and possibility, not physical or learned ability.
The root-centered network—maaari, maaaring, maaari ba, hindi maaari, maaari rin—is more useful than an English-style conjugation table.

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