This word shows you are guessing something. It means "probably" or "I guess." You use it for things that might happen or things you don't know yet.
Verb [ない-form] + むPrimary
This word shows you are guessing something. It means "probably" or "I guess." You use it for things that might happen or things you don't know yet.
この雨、今宵のうちに止まむ。
This rain will probably stop sometime tonight.
その時、彼はやがて嵐が来むと思った。
At that time, he thought that a storm would probably come soon.
やがて咲かむ花の色はいかに。
What, I wonder, will be the color of the flower that is to bloom?
いつかはこの事業も成功せむ。
Someday, this enterprise, too, will probably succeed.
遠き国より便りも届かむ。
A letter will probably arrive from a distant land.
This 'mu' means "probably will." It is different from another 'mu' that means "I will." That one shows your own will. This 'mu' shows what you guess will happen. The old 'mu' often changed to 'n'. This 'mu' is an older way to write things.
Watch out: This pattern connects to the verb stem before "-nai". For example, for "iku" (to go), it is "ika". But "suru" (to do) is special. It becomes "semu", not "shimu".
Don't use this when you are speaking Japanese today. It is from old Japanese. You will only see it in old books or poems.
Often confused with(1)
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