If 〜よう / おう is the vow "I will do it," then 〜まい is its shadow: "I will not do it — and I mean it." まい is the negative counterpart of the volitional, a single classical auxiliary that carries two loads at once — a firm negative resolve ("I refuse to / I'll never") and a negative conjecture ("surely not / probably won't"). It is unmistakably literary: you meet it in novels, editorials, speeches, and heightened or emphatic moments, not in everyday chat. Learning it is less about a new meaning than about recognizing a form the written language leans on constantly — and knowing when not to use it.
Two jobs, split by person
まい does the negative work that the volitional よう does on the positive side, and it splits the same way. Just as よう means "I'll [do]" in the first person but "let's / shall we" as an invitation, まい means one thing about yourself and another about someone or something else:
- First person → negative volition / resolve: "I will not, I refuse to, I'll never again." A decision about your own future conduct.
- Third person or a state → negative conjecture: "surely won't, probably isn't, can hardly be." A guess about what won't happen or isn't the case.
Context and grammatical person tell them apart, exactly as they do for よう.
もう二度と泣くまいと、心に誓った。
mō nido to naku mai to, kokoro ni chikatta
I swore to myself I would never cry again.
この空模様なら、雨は降るまい。
kono soramoyō nara, ame wa furu mai
With the sky looking like this, it surely won't rain.
The first is a private vow (first-person resolve); the second is a forecast about the weather (conjecture about a state). Same まい, disambiguated by who or what the subject is.
Attachment: mostly the dictionary form, with irregular exceptions
This is where learners stumble, so take the table slowly. For the largest verb class (godan / 五段), まい attaches straight to the dictionary form. The other classes allow more than one shape, and the irregulars have set variants.
| Class | Verb |
| Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| godan | 行く | 行くまい | iku mai |
| godan | 飲む | 飲むまい | nomu mai |
| ichidan | 食べる | 食べまい / 食べるまい | tabe mai / taberu mai |
| ichidan | 見る | 見まい / 見るまい | mi mai / miru mai |
| する | する | すまい / するまい | su mai / suru mai |
| 来る | 来る | 来まい（こまい）/ 来るまい | ko mai / kuru mai |
Two things to lock in. First, godan verbs take the dictionary form — 行くまい, never ×行かまい (do not attach to the negative stem). Second, for する the classical form is すまい and the modern form is するまい; both are correct. (The variant しまい exists but is heavily marked/older — safest to use すまい or するまい.) For 来る, standard modern usage is 来まい（こまい） or 来るまい.
あんな店には、二度と行くまい。
anna mise ni wa, nido to iku mai
I'll never set foot in that shop again.
二度とあんな失敗はするまいと思った。
nido to anna shippai wa suru mai to omotta
I resolved never to make a blunder like that again.
Conjecture: "surely not / can hardly be"
In the conjectural sense, まい is the negative of だろう / でしょう ("probably") — a confident guess that something won't happen or isn't so. It pairs especially often with ある, 来る, and stative verbs, and frequently sits in a rhetorical frame.
まさか、そんなことはあるまい。
masaka, sonna koto wa aru mai
Surely that can't be the case.
彼ほどの人が、それを知らないわけではあるまい。
kare hodo no hito ga, sore o shiranai wake de wa aru mai
A man of his stature can hardly be unaware of it.
彼はもう来まい。あんなに怒っていたのだから。
kare wa mō ko mai. anna ni okotte ita no da kara
He probably won't come anymore — he was that angry, after all.
That last one is the pure third-person conjecture: 来まい here is a guess ("he won't come"), not a statement that he refuses to. Person is the switch — about yourself it is resolve, about him it is a forecast.
The 〜まいとする frame: "struggle not to"
A very common home for まい is the frame 〜まいと(して) / 〜まいとする, "trying hard not to / determined not to." It captures effortful resistance — fighting back a reaction, refusing to give in.
彼は負けまいと、歯を食いしばった。
kare wa make mai to, ha o kuishibatta
He clenched his teeth, determined not to lose.
泣くまいとしたが、涙が止まらなかった。
naku mai to shita ga, namida ga tomaranakatta
I tried not to cry, but the tears wouldn't stop.
Register: literary, and why it matters
まい belongs to formal, written, or emphatic Japanese. In a novel, a newspaper column, a formal speech, or a heightened emotional line, it is perfectly natural and even elegant. Dropped into casual conversation, it sounds stiff, bookish, or theatrical — like reaching for "I shall nevermore" in English small talk. In ordinary speech the everyday equivalents do the job:
| Meaning | Literary (まい) | Everyday equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| negative resolve | もう行くまい | もう行かない / 行かないつもりだ |
| negative conjecture | 雨は降るまい | 雨は降らないだろう |
It survives in a handful of set literary expressions worth recognizing: 〜まいし / 〜じゃあるまいし ("it's not as if…", a dismissive frame — 子供じゃあるまいし, "you're not a child, are you"), and 〜ではあるまいか (a literary "might it not be…?").
子供じゃあるまいし、それくらい自分でやりなさい。
kodomo ja aru mai shi, sore kurai jibun de yarinasai
You're not a child — do that much yourself.
Common mistakes
❌ あんな店には二度と行かまい。
Incorrect attachment — godan まい takes the dictionary form, not the negative stem: 行くまい.
✅ あんな店には二度と行くまい。
anna mise ni wa nido to iku mai
I'll never go to that shop again.
❌ もう二度とあんなことはしまい。
Marked/old form — for する the natural negative volitional is すまい or するまい; しまい is easily confused with 仕舞い ('the end').
✅ もう二度とあんなことはするまい。
mō nido to anna koto wa suru mai
I'll never do anything like that again.
❌（友達に）遅れそう、もう走るまい！
Register clash — まい sounds literary/archaic in casual speech. To a friend, say もう走らない or 走るのやめよう.
✅（友達に）遅れそう、もう走らない！
okuresō, mō hashiranai
We're going to be late — I'm not running anymore!
❌ 彼は来まい、というのは「彼が来るのを拒んでいる」という意味だと思う。
Misread — with a third-person subject 来まい is conjecture ('he probably won't come'), not a statement that he refuses to come.
✅ この様子では、彼はもう来まい。
kono yōsu de wa, kare wa mō ko mai
The way things look, he surely won't be coming now — a guess, not his refusal.
Key takeaways
- 〜まい is the literary negative of the volitional 〜よう — one classical auxiliary, two jobs.
- First person = negative resolve ("I refuse to / I'll never": もう泣くまい); third person or a state = negative conjecture ("surely won't / can't be": 雨は降るまい, そんなことはあるまい).
- Attachment: godan takes the dictionary form (行くまい, never ×行かまい); ichidan allows stem or dictionary (食べまい / 食べるまい); irregulars are すまい・するまい and 来まい（こまい）・来るまい.
- 〜まいとする = "struggle / be determined not to" (負けまいとする).
- Register: literary and emphatic. In everyday speech build on the plain negative — 〜ないつもり for resolve, 〜ないだろう for conjecture.
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