26 Yes or No?

→  You can also read this chapter in French.

N

A

DL

G

The simplest questions are those where one just answers with a yes or no. Such short answers are, by the way, acceptable in Croatian. In the Standard Croatian, the recipe for such simple questions is quite simple: move the verb to the beginning, if it isn’t already there, and then insert a particle li² to the second position (before all other second-position words):

Idešići u školu.  ▶  You’re going to school.

Idešići li u školu?  ▶  Are you going to the school?

— Da. Yes. / — Idemići. I’m going.

— Ne. No. / — Ne idemići. I’m not going.

If the verb in a sentence is present form of the verb biti be (that is, je², sam², etc.) the verb cannot be simply put to the beginning, since it must be in the second position!

Therefore, there are extended (or stressed) forms of the present of the verb biti (je² +), used when the verb must be the first word in a sentence. The forms are:

pers.	sing.	plur.
1st	jesam	jesmo
2nd	jesi	jeste
3rd	je	jesu

They are quite simple: just add je- to the beginning of usual forms, and you have the forms you need! Again, je² is an exception – it looks exactly the same in its normal and extended form. We can then ask:

Gladni ste. You’re hungry. (to a group/someone you respect)

Jeste li gladni? Are you hungry?

— Da. Yes. / — Jesmo. We are.

— Ne. No. / — Nismo. We aren’t.

Je li žedna? Is she thirsty?

— Da. Yes. / — Je. She is. ®

— Ne. No. / — Nije. She isn’t.

— Možda. Maybe.

— Ne znam. I don’t know.

As you can see, you can answer with either da or ne or with the verb in its extended form. There are no special extended/stressed negative forms – the usual negative forms of biti (je² +) are already stressed.

Note also how she is implied by the feminine form of the adjective (žedna).

Now for the past tense. The past tense is made from two words, but for purpose of making questions, the auxiliary verb – the present tense of biti (je² +) be – is the important word. Grammatically, the past form behaves like a kind of adjective and has no role in making questions. Therefore, we need to move the auxiliary (je², sam², and so on):

Gledala si film. You watched the movie. {to f}

Jesi li gledala film?  ▶  Did you watch the movie? {to f}

— Da. Yes. / — Jesam. I did.

— Ne. No. / — Nisam. I didn’t.

If je² is left out due to se², it must reappear in questions:

Bojao se. He was afraid.

Je li se bojao? Was he afraid?

Everything described so far was in the Standard Croatian. Colloquially, you will also hear and often read other ways of making such questions. The first one, is to just put da li to the front, nothing else is changed, no verbs are moved, the present forms of biti (je² +) don’t get extended, etc:

Da li idešići u školu?  ▶  (colloq.) Are you going to the school?

Da li ste gladni?  ▶  (colloq.) Are you hungry?

Da li si gledala film? (colloq.) Did you watch the movie? {to f}

Da li se bojao? (colloq.) Was he afraid?

I used the abbreviation (colloq.) to remind you that these are colloquial sentences in Croatian ®.

This way of forming questions is heard in speech, e.g. you can hear it on TV from members of the Croatian government, but for some weird reasons, it’s often avoided in writing.

You will sometimes hear and read questions with these two words contracted to dal, or spelled together as dali.

There are more ways, which are much more common in colloquial speech.

The first way is to use the standard way, but without li:

Jesi gledala film? (colloq.) Did you watch the movie? {to f}

Yet another quite colloquial way is to put je li to the front, frequently contracted to just jel (also spelled as je l, je l’):

Jel idešići u školu?  ▶  (colloq.) Are you going to the school?

Jel ste gladni? (colloq.) Are you hungry? (to someone you respect/group)

Jel si gledala film? (colloq.) Did you watch the movie? {to f}

Jel se bojao? (colloq.) Was he afraid?

Also, colloquially, it’s possible to turn normal sentences into a question just by changing their intonation – sentences end on a higher tone, and are spoken faster – no rearrangement of any kind is needed:

Idešići u školu?  ▶  (colloq.)

Gledala si film? (colloq.)

Bojao se? (colloq.)

However, with just the present forms of biti (je² +), there are questions like this often heard:

Jeste gladni?  ▶  (colloq.)

This table sums up this type of questions:

Ways to ask Are you sleeping? in Croatian
form	example	status
verb + li...	Spavaš li?	standard, not frequent in speech
Da li...	Da li spavaš?	a bit colloquial,® used sometimes in speech
Je li... Jel... / Je l'... Dal.... / Da l'...	Je li spavaš? Jel spavaš? Dal spavaš?	quite colloquial, very common in speech
Only intonation	Spavaš?

All the ways of making questions described above are used in real life, unlike some formal terms that actually nobody uses (e.g. formal hladnjak vs. colloq. frižider fridge). For example, here are some statistics (by Google™ search) from the Croatian discussion site, forum.hr:

jesi li gledala	3280
da li si gledala	1420
jesi gledala	11800

There’s another, special type of questions, asking for advice or an opinion. In English, such questions begin with Should I... or something like it. In Standard Croatian, you can start such questions with da li da + present, but that works for the present tense only:

Da li da gledam taj film? Should I watch that movie?

In the past tense, you have to use the verb trebati need/should + verb in infinitive; questions follow the same pattern as any other yes/no question:

Jesam li trebala gledati taj film? Should I have watched that movie? {f}

(How to use trebati need/should will be explained a bit later.)

Colloquially, da li is very often left out in such opinion questions, and you’ll most of the time hear and see just:

Da gledam taj film? (colloq.) Should I watch that movie?

Sometimes you’ll hear jel instead of da li even in opinion questions:

Jel da gledam taj film? (colloq.) Should I watch that movie?

Such opinion questions are often answered with conditionals and imperatives – verb forms I haven’t introduced yet. Be patient.

________

® In Serbia and parts of Bosnia, affirmative answers using the verb biti (je² +) be in the 3rd person can be also jeste (besides je). However, this additional stressed form is not used when forming questions – it’s used only in answers and sometimes in regular sentences, meaning roughly is really.

The way of making questions using da li... is considered standard in Bosnia and Serbia, and it’s often considered (or was often considered) standard in Croatia as well.

↓ Something Possibly Interesting (click to show)

Most languages in Europe usually use short responses meaning yes and no; English and Celtic languages are unique in preferring short answers with generic verbs (e.g. I do, I am.)

Some people in Croatia hate other people using questions (and other constructions derived from questions) starting with da li..., for reasons they are often unable to explain (they usually claim it’s “not Croatian”). However, such constructions are very common in speech, including public speech of top officials.

↓ Examples (click to show)

Although many Croatian style manuals advise against forming questions with da li..., that way is very often seen and heard, e.g. on the wall in a (fancy) bakery:

This translates as Have you ever tasted a fresher sandwich? – the word kad, in yes/no questions, can mean ever as well. The adjective svježiji freshier is derived from svjež fresh; such derivations will be explained later, in 63 Bigger and Better: Comparatives.

Interestingly, questions with da li... are often found on web sites and publications by Croatian government and other official bodies (click on the image to get the source page):

This is an example of a disputed, controversial standard Croatian rule many don’t follow even in very official writing. You’ll see there are many others.

This song from 1970’s, Piši mi by Drugi način – still quite popular – nicely illustrates various ways to ask yes/no questions: each verse uses another form! (It also uses a couple of constructions and forms I haven’t explained yet; the proposition pored beside requires the genitive case.)

I dal još svirate	And do you still play
noću pored rijeke	at night by the river
sad je došlodoći past-n lijepo vrijeme	Now nice weather has come
pjevate li	Do you sing
one naše pjesme	those songs of ours
da li ponekad	Do you sometimes
sretnešsresti moju dragu	come across my darling
jel još uvijek onako lijepa	Is she still so beautiful
pita li za mene	Does she ask about me
i dal me čeka	and is she waiting for me
(Fikret Kurtović)

Note how there’s no ona she in the verse Jel još uvijek onako lijepa, but the adjective lijepa is in the fem. N sing., and that’s enough: we know who he’s talking about. We again see the form još uvijek.

The verbs sresti (sretne, sreo) meet, come across and doći (dođe, došao, došla) come, arrive are two more perfective verbs; I will explain them in detail a bit later.

The various forms of questions are here purely for rhythmic reasons. You can listen to it on YouTube™.

Note that the song uses the ‘western’ stress (e.g. ponekad).

↓ Exercise (click to show)

Fill in the right words, using the standard way of asking questions, verb + li:

Show a pop-up Croatian keyboard

li film? Did you watch the movie? (to a single female person)

li film? Did you watch the movie? (to a mixed group)

li ? Do you know Ana? (to a person you’re familiar with)

li u ? Have you been to Split? (to a group)

li ona ? Is she from Germany?

li hladno? Were you cold? (to a person you’re familiar with)

li lisicu? Did we see a fox? (you’re in a mixed group)

li ? Are you waiting for us? (to a group)

Now, use the partially colloquial way to ask questions, with da li; all questions are to a female person you’re familiar with:

Da li ? Are you waiting for me?

Da li ? Were you waiting for me?

Da li film? Were you watching the movie?

Search Post

Label :