"Ten sklep może sprzedawać wino."
Translation:This store can sell wine.
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Doesn't that get confusing? Because "sprzedawać" is in the infinitive, it seems to me that "może" is talking about the store's ability to sell. If "sprzedawać" were conjugated, it would seem to me that "może" would rather refer to the rest of the clause, in that it's a possibility that a store sells wine. Does that distinction make sense? And, given that, wouldn't "Ten sklep może sprzedawać wino" be a bit different from the other context?
I'm not exactly sure if that's what you meant, but doesn't the comment from immery below answer your question? https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/14219851?comment_id=19489233
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I think "This store might sell wine" and "This store maybe sells wine" (as below) mean exactly the same. So I guess they both shouldn't be accepted.
I reported "able to <verb>" as "should be accepted" on another question, so I guess we'll see if they update acceptable translations of forms of móc
"Able to" implies a physical possibility to me, as in the corresponding noun "ability". I can (am able) to walk, he can (is able to) speak English. For example, I personally wouldn't understand "he is able to speak" as meaning "he is allowed to speak". "Can" can imply both "is able to" and "is allowed to", but they are of course quite different. Further, associating "able to" with a person is natural, but with a shop it's weird.
I think you are confusing capable/incapable with able/inable. Inable could certainly be used to describe something which someone is physically capable to do but not allowed to do.
I have never heard of the adjective "inable". I know the noun "inability", especially frequent in the combination "physical inability"" and I know "unable", which to me is general - someone is unable to do something because he or she is either not allowed to, or physically cannot.
Isn't 'może' also translated as 'perhaps'? I put 'Perhaps this shop sells wine' which wasn't accepted. Is there a subtle difference here that I'm not getting, or should I report it? Dzięki
there is a subtle difference- "móc-może" as modal verb is followed by infinitive "sprzedawać"
if "może" were "perhaps", the only verb "sprzedawać" would be conjugated. "Może ten sklep sprzedaje wino".
Also word order in "ten sklep może sprzedaje" sounds unnatural, while "może sprzedawać" shouldn't be separated.
No. If it was "Ten sklep może sprzedaje wino", with 3rd person sg form "sprzedaje", then it would mean "maybe sells".
But as "sprzedawać" is an infinitive, you see that "może" is a verb, and therefore it's "can sell".
OK, added "is permitted to" and "is authorized to", "may" worked already.
"sprzedać" is perfective, "sprzedawać" is imperfective.
This means that "sprzedawać" is like "to sell in general", while "sprzedać" would refer to some particular occasion, which doesn't really seem to fit this sentence well.