Breakdown of Być może on już śpi.
on
he / it (m)
spać
to sleep
już
already / anymore (with negation)
być może
perhaps, maybe (formal)
Questions & Answers about Być może on już śpi.
Why does the phrase być może look like two verbs?
Być może literally translates to "to be, it can" (or "it may be"). Over time, these two words merged into a fixed phrase that means "perhaps" or "maybe". You never conjugate it; it always stays exactly like this.
Is there a difference between być może and just może?
The translation says "is asleep", but isn't śpi the verb for "sleeps"?
Yes, exactly! Polish doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English adjective "asleep". To express that someone is asleep, you simply use the verb spać (to sleep). So on śpi translates to both "he is sleeping" and "he is asleep".
The infinitive is spać, so why does the word change to śpi here?
The verb spać is highly irregular in the present tense. The stem completely changes from spa- to śpi-. The core forms you just have to memorize are ja śpię (I sleep), ty śpisz (you sleep), and on śpi (he sleeps).
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