Coffee Break Spanish - How to say 'maybe' in Spanish without the subjunctive

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

The subjunctive has a reputation for being one of the trickiest parts of Spanish, but you don't always need it to talk about what might happen. In this episode, Pablo shares three everyday expressions, a lo mejor, igual and lo mismo, that let you express possibility and uncertainty using the ordinary indicative. They're common, natural and a great way to sound more relaxed when you're not quite sure about something.➡️ Click here to watch the video version of this episode.➡️ Love learning in short bursts? Our free weekly newsletter is packed with tips just like these: https://coffeebreaklanguages.kit.com/newsletter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, hello, what how? I'm phenomenal. I'm Pablo, the Coffee Break Spanish, and up next, we are going to look at three simple phrases that you can use to express uncertainty in Spanish without using the adjective. Soen a good, right? Well, prepareate, because...

All ya, we see these expressions to express uncertainty without the subjunctive, Let me tell you something. We cannot always avoid the subjunctive. So it's actually really important that you learn it because it's an essential part of Spanish grammar. However, if you're still building confidence with the subjunctive, these expressions we're going to see are super helpful because they allow you to express similar ideas while using the indicative instead.

Very well, we're going to come to the first expression. This one is A lo mejor. A lo mejor.

And A Lo Mejor literally means something like in the best case but it's simply used to express uncertainty or possibility,

so it can be translated as might, me, or even possibly in English. We're a situation.

in laque we could use this expression. So imagine you're waiting for a friend, and this person tends to be late, but this time you're not sure whether they'll make it on time, so you may say, a lo meho, get a tarde. A lo mejor, yeah, yeah, a target, and this essentially means he or she might arrive late.

And notice how Jega is in the present indicative. So we're expressing uncertainty, but we're not using the adjective. So this is great, right. Very well. Let's see another example. Imagine you've sent someone a message, but they haven't replied to you yet. You might think, A lo mejor no has seen the message still.

A lo mejor no has seen the message still. Or maybe they've seen it and they're just ignoring you, but let's stay optimistic, of course. So again, we're talking about something that may or may not be true. And we're doing it without using the adjective. And in this case, we are using the perfect tense, which is a tense of the indicative. Perfecto. the next expression

that we're going to be equal. I'm now, as you may know, equal means equal or the same, but it can also be used to express uncertainty,

much like a lo mejor, but this one is probably a bit more conversational and more colloquial, I would say. And again, in English you may usually translate it,

using might. We'll see some examples. So imagine you and your friends are deciding what to do this evening, and nothing is fully decided yet. So you might say, I'm going to see, Igual, we're going to cinema this afternoon. So, in other words, we might go to the cinema this afternoon.

And it's not confirmed. It's just a possibility, but we are not using the adjective. Otra situation. Imagine you cannot find your colleagues where they usually are in the office, for example. So you say, um, igual, were to take a coffee. Igual were to take a coffee.

And this would translate more naturally into English as they might have to be a gone to have a coffee so once more we're expressing uncertainty but using the indicative rather than the subject and in this case we're using the preterit tense which means they went but in English we naturally say they might have gone well yes we've seen those expressions but I'll I'm going to teach another more.

Our third and final expression is lo-mismo. Lo-mismo. Now, lo-mismo

literally means the same theme, but when it's used at the beginning of a sentence, it can also

express uncertainty, very much like a mehoer or equal. And in English,

this one is also often translated using may, my, or even possibly.

For example, imagine you arrive somewhere to meet some friends, but they're no longer there because they may have gone somewhere else. So you might say, lo miso-sse an idou-ya, meaning they might have left already. And notice we're using the perfect tense here once more, which is a tense of the indicative. So again, no need for the subjunctive.

And an ultimate example. So you've invited some friends to join you, but they've said no at first, but you're still a bit hopeful they might change their mind. So you say, Lo miso, canvian the opinion. Lo miso, canvian de opinion. So again, we're suggesting a possibility

and we're doing it using the indicative. Agamos a pekinio resumens. So we've seen three very useful expressions

that allow you to express uncertainty without using the subjunctive and these were a lo mejor, equal,

and lo miso. And all three are used at the beginning of the sentence and are followed by the indicative

which makes them super, super useful if you're still building confidence with the subjunctive. And of course, as I have said earlier, this doesn't mean that the subjunctive isn't important because

it's actually essential and we cannot always avoid it. But these expressions give you a very natural alternative when you want to express uncertainty and you're still not fully confident with the subjunctive.

Very well, well, this little lection. Just I hope that you have liked much and nothing

until the next and as every happy coffee breaking adios you have been

listening to a coffee break language production for the Radiolingua Network

Copyright 2026 Radio Limited Limited Recording Copyright 2026

Radio Limited All rights reserved