можно

Russian

Etymology

Borrowed from Polish można with a change of the final morpheme, either to avoid an ending that would be anomalous for an adverb, or because of orthographic hypercorrection rooted in vowel reduction, or both. Synchronically мог- (mog-) +‎ -ный (-nyj) +‎ -о (-o) (but the form **мо́жный does not exist, unlike Polish możny). Compare Ukrainian можна (možna).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmoʐnə]

• Audio:

  (file)

Predicative

мо́жно • (móžno) (impersonal, invariable)

1. one can, one may

   мне мо́жно ― mne móžno ― I may

2. it is possible

   как мо́жно лу́чше ― kak móžno lúčše ― in the best way possible

   как мо́жно скоре́е ― kak móžno skoréje ― as soon as possible

Related terms

• мочь (močʹ)

Antonyms

• нельзя́ (nelʹzjá)

Usage notes

• The forms немо́жно or не мо́жно are not used in standard Russian. To negate мо́жно, use нельзя́ (nelʹzjá), which doesn't have a positive form "льзя", or невозмо́жно (nevozmóžno).