Learn Polish: Być może on już śpi. - Perhaps he is already asleep.

Być może on już śpi.

Perhaps he is already asleep.

Breakdown of Być może on już śpi.

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?

In this sentence, they mean exactly the same thing. You could easily say Może on już śpi instead. Być może sounds a tiny bit more formal, but both are incredibly common in everyday speech.

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).