Questions & Answers about Czy możesz to wyjaśnić jeszcze raz?
Why does the sentence start with czy?
Czy is a particle used to introduce a yes/no question in Polish. It does not translate neatly as a single English word, but it works a bit like the way English changes word order to form a question.
So:
- Możesz to wyjaśnić jeszcze raz. = You can explain it again. / You are able to explain it again.
- Czy możesz to wyjaśnić jeszcze raz? = Can you explain it again?
In everyday Polish, people often omit czy and simply use rising intonation:
- Możesz to wyjaśnić jeszcze raz?
That is also completely natural.
What exactly does możesz mean here?
Możesz is the 2nd person singular form of móc = to be able to / can.
Here it means can you when speaking to one person informally.
Examples:
- mogę = I can
- możesz = you can
- może = he/she/it can
- możemy = we can
- możecie = you can (plural or informal group)
- mogą = they can
So czy możesz... literally corresponds to can you...
Is możesz formal or informal?