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When you add ひょっとしたら to a sentence with かもしれない, how does the meaning of the sentence change?
What would be the difference between:
• アリスはひょっとしたら来るかもしれない。 / アリスは来るかもしれない。
• ひょっとしたら勝つかもしれない。 / 勝つかもしれない。
• ひょっとしたら彼は道に迷ったのかもしれない。 / 彼は道に迷ったのかもしれない。
Does it just add uncertainty?
かもしれない with no extra element can represent any degree of uncertainty above 0% and below 100%. ひょっとしたら, literally like "if it were to happen", specifically implies a low probability. It is used with a connotation that the speaker did not recognize the possibility or evaluate it likely beforehand, or it is an unwelcome assumption, etc.
By the way, ひょっと is practically only used in three derivative forms: ひょっとしたら, ひょっとすると, and ひょっとして. While they are all possibly translated into "perhaps", ひょっとしたら grammatically leans most toward conditional clause and ひょっとして to adverb, which results in uninterchangeability in some situations.
Are you perhaps Keanu Reeves?
?? ひょっとしたらキアヌ・リーブスですか？
○ ひょっとしてキアヌ・リーブスですか？
