Learn Hardcore Japanese: watasi ha yoru osoku nete mo, asa hayaku okirareru. - Even if I sleep late at night, I can wake up early in the morning.

The construction ～ても, attached to the て-form of a verb, creates a concessive clause meaning “even if (I) ….” So 夜遅く寝ても means “even if I go to bed late at night.”

Why is 寝る in the て-form (寝て) rather than the past tense 寝た?

To form the concessive ～ても, you always use the て-form, never the past plain form. You take 寝る → 寝て, then add も.

Could I use 寝たら instead of 寝ても, and would the meaning change?

Yes, 寝たら (“if/when I sleep”) is a conditional, but it often implies “once I sleep, then …” or “if I happen to sleep.” ～ても stresses “even if (I do X), the outcome still holds,” so it’s more about concession than simple condition.

What does 起きられる mean? It looks similar to a passive form.

Here 起きられる is the potential form of 起きる, meaning “can wake up.” In Japanese, potential verbs often look like passives, but the meaning is “ability to do” rather than “be done to.”

How do you form the potential of a verb like 起きる?

起きる is an ichidan (る-ending) verb. To make it potential, drop る and add られる: 起きる → 起きられる. For godan verbs, you change the final う-sound to え-sound + る (e.g., 書く → 書ける).

Why isn’t there a subject marker or pronoun before 起きられる?

Japanese often drops pronouns when they’re clear from context. We know from the first clause (私は) that the subject is “I,” so it’s omitted in the second clause.

What roles do 夜遅く and 朝早く play in the sentence?

Both are adverbial phrases:

夜遅く comes from 夜 (night) + 遅い (late) turned into an adverb by changing 遅い → 遅く.
朝早く comes from 朝 (morning) + 早い (early) → 早く.
They modify the verbs 寝る and 起きる respectively.

Is word order flexible here? Could I say 朝早く起きられるのに、夜遅く寝ても?

Japanese word order is relatively flexible, especially for adverbials and subordinate clauses. However, the natural flow for a concessive clause (even if X, Y) is Xても、Y. Using のに instead of ても would change the nuance from concession to a sense of regret or but (“I can wake up early, but…”).

Can this sentence imply a habitual ability or just a one-time event?

The present plain form 起きられる here usually expresses a habitual or general ability: “I’m able (as a rule) to wake up early even if I go to bed late.” If you wanted to emphasize a single occasion, you might add time markers or context, but as is, it’s a general statement.