| Word form | šaj |
| LWT meaning(s) | |
| Word meaning | can, be possible (participant-external possibility); may, be allowed to (deontic possibility); possibly, perhaps (epistemic possibility) |
| Czech translation | moci; smět |
| Hungarian translation | lehet; -hat- ~ -het- |
| Grammatical info | modal particle |
| Analyzability | unanalyzable |
| Age | West Asian L2 [9] (700–1000) |
| Early Romani reconstruction | *šaj; *ašti |
| Boretzky & Igla's etymology | 268: < Persian šāyad ’es ist möglich’; possibly also < Prakrit sakkaï < OIA śaknoti ‘können’ |
| Mānušs et al. etymology | no entry |
| Vekerdi's etymology | 152: perhaps < Sanskrit śakyam, perhaps < Persian šāyad |