Может ли существовать такой закон?

Can such a law exist?

Breakdown of Может ли существовать такой закон?

• мочь: can
• такой: such
• ли: whether
• закон: the law

Questions & Answers about Может ли существовать такой закон?

What does ли do in Может ли существовать такой закон?

Ли is a question particle used to form a yes/no question in a more formal or neutral way.

In this sentence, ли attaches to может and gives the sense of:

• Can ... ?
• Is it possible that ... ?
• Could ... exist?

A very important pattern is:

verb + ли + rest of the sentence

So here:

• может = can / may / is able to
• ли = marks it as a yes/no question

This structure is especially common in writing, formal speech, and careful style.

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Why is the sentence Может ли... and not Ли может...?

In Russian, ли usually comes after the word it is focusing on or questioning. It is almost never placed first in the sentence.

So:

• Может ли существовать такой закон? = correct
• Ли может существовать такой закон? = incorrect

Here, the question centers on может: can / is it possible. That is why ли comes right after может.

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Why is может in the singular?