I ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎= ana ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎: subject my ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎= -i(as suffex) : object mine = li ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎: object as well I have a pen ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎أنا معي قلم ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ana ma3i qalam this is my pen ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎هذا قلمــي ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎hatha qalami this pen is mine ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎هذا القلم لي ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎hatha al-qalam li you can write "may I" or "can I" in tow different forms here we don't use "I" as "ana" because the meaning is "do you allow me to do something?" so "ana" comes here as an object may I .... ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎هل تسمح لي, هل يمكنني can I ..... ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎هل يمكنني, هل يمكن لي I hope this answer helps you to understand the differences

you use ana when you talk about your self and you use li when you talk about somthing you have it for exp my bag you use li for exp i play you use ana

In most of the cases لي equals (for me or me) in English. And أنا equals (I). So in the example you put above "أتسمح لي أن أسألك سؤالا؟" it's translated literally in English that way "Do you allow ME to ask you a question?" A simple example for أنا is: "أنا أشرب الحليب" "I drink milk" I hope that my explanation helped, and if you have any other questions, please, don't hesitate to ask. Best of luck!