# taitaa and mahtaa



## Mats Norberg

What's the difference between taitaa and mahtaa? Both expresses probability or likelihood as far as I understand. For instance:

Hän taitaa olla väsynyt. (Hän lienee väsynyt, ehkä hän on väsynyt, luultavasti hän on väsynyt)
Hän mahtaa olla rikas. (He's probably rich)
Mahtaako hän rakastaa minua?


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## Ansku89

I would say that mahtaa is in modern Finnish usually used in questions and any other use sounds somehow old-fashioned. In contrast, taitaa is rarely used in questions. I don't know why this is or if I'm even right, this is just an ordinary native speaker's hunch - or näppituntuma as we would say in Finnish


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## Malakias

"Mahtaa" is very commonly used in eastern dialects both in questions and statements. "Taitaa" does not fit well to questions, but it could be used if you like to sound polite in old-fashioned way, for example "Taitaakohan se alkaa satamaan?"
But then, "taitaa" has also another meaning: to be skilled to do, or to master. Like for example in a song: "Joka pelätyn Kung Fun taitaa" = "(One) who masters the feared Kung Fu". But this usage is also, sadly, old-fashioned or poetic. Personally I would like to hear it in everyday speech


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## Ansku89

Malakias said:


> "Mahtaa" is very commonly used in eastern dialects



Oops. As a speaker of a dialect that isn't generally considered cute, I completely forgot to even think about the weirdness that goes on in areas far away from the coast  Great that you were able to fill in from that perspective!


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## Määränpää

I (from the south) use _mahtaa_ only when I'm talking about extreme qualities: (very) tired, (very) rich.

For example, I would never say _"hän mahtaa olla normaali"._ In questions it works, however: _"Mahdatko tietää, missä juna-asema on?"_


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