Croatian builds yes/no questions with a tiny, stressless word: li. Where English flips the word order („You are tired" → „Are you tired?"), Croatian fronts the questioned element and clips li right behind it. The particle never stands alone, never takes stress, and always sits in second position — which means it competes for the same slot as the auxiliary clitics sam, je, ću. Get the placement right and your questions sound native; get it wrong and they sound like a textbook from 1975. This page covers li's position, the ubiquitous fixed phrase je li, and the two everyday alternatives: colloquial da li and bare intonation.
li goes in second position, behind the fronted word
The rule is positional: take the word you are questioning — usually the verb or the auxiliary — front it to the start of the clause, and attach li immediately after it. The fronted word + li together form the question's opening.
Ideš li sutra na posao?
Are you going to work tomorrow? — verb 'ideš' fronted, 'li' in second position.
Hoćeš li kavu?
Do you want coffee? — auxiliary/verb 'hoćeš' + 'li'.
Možeš li mi pomoći?
Can you help me? — 'možeš' + 'li', then the rest of the clause.
Because li sits in second position, the questioned word has to come first. You front whatever the question is „about": usually the verb (Ideš li?), but you can front another element to question it specifically — Marko li dolazi? („Is it Marko who's coming?") puts the focus on Marko.
Je li Marko doma?
Is Marko home? — 'je' (is) fronted, 'li' second, then the subject 'Marko'.
li and the clitic cluster: je li, jesi li, je li došao
Here is the structural complication. li is a second-position clitic, and so are the auxiliaries of biti and htjeti (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su; ću, ćeš, će…). When a question contains an auxiliary, both want second position, and they line up in a fixed order: the question particle li comes after the verb but the auxiliary clitic has to be handled too. With biti, Croatian uses the full (stressed) auxiliary in li-questions, precisely so it can host li.
| Statement | Yes/no question with li |
|---|---|
| Marko je došao. (Marko has come.) | Je li Marko došao? (Has Marko come?) |
| Ti si gladan. (You're hungry.) | Jesi li gladan? (Are you hungry?) |
| Oni su otišli. (They've left.) | Jesu li otišli? (Have they left?) |
| Radit ćeš. (You'll work.) | Hoćeš li raditi? (Will you work?) |
Jesi li već ručao?
Have you had lunch yet? — full auxiliary 'jesi' hosts 'li'; clitic 'si' could not.
Je li ti rekla istinu?
Did she tell you the truth? — 'je li' opens, then the clitic 'ti' (you, dat.) follows.
Notice the third-person je li… questions: the biti form is je (the merged third-singular), and li clips behind it. The ordering of li relative to the other clitics in the cluster is part of the broader clitic cluster order — and the full/clitic shapes of biti and htjeti are laid out on the biti and htjeti page.
je li: the all-purpose opener and tag
The fixed phrase je li (third-person je „is" + li) is one of the most frequent things you'll hear. Beyond asking „is…?", it works as a general question opener in front of any clause and as a tag meaning „right? / isn't it?" In rapid speech it contracts to jel' or je l' (and you'll see jel written informally).
Je li, ti si onaj novi kolega?
Hey, you're that new colleague, right? — 'je li' as a general opener.
Lijepo je danas, je l'?
It's nice today, isn't it? — 'je l'' (jel') as a tag question. (informal)
Jel' znaš gdje je kolodvor?
D'you know where the station is? — colloquial 'jel'' opening a question. (informal)
This je li / jel' is so general that speakers use it to open questions that have nothing to do with „being" — it has drifted into a pure question marker, much like English „so," „hey," or a rising „right?"
The alternatives: da li and pure intonation
Two other ways to ask a yes/no question are extremely common in speech.
da li + clause front-loads the question with da li and then keeps normal word order — no fronting of the verb required. It is everywhere in conversation across the region, but prescriptively dispreferred in standard Croatian, which favours the li construction (Dolaziš li?).
Da li dolaziš večeras?
Are you coming tonight? — common 'da li', but standard Croatian prefers 'Dolaziš li?'. (informal)
Dolaziš li večeras?
Are you coming tonight? — the standard-Croatian-preferred 'li' version.
Pure intonation — no particle at all, just a rising tone on a statement — is the most casual option, exactly like English „You're coming?"
Dolaziš? (rising intonation)
You're coming? — a statement turned into a question by intonation alone. (informal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Li ideš sutra?
Incorrect — 'li' cannot start a clause; it sits in second position behind the fronted verb.
✅ Ideš li sutra?
Are you going tomorrow?
❌ Si li došao?
Incorrect — the clitic 'si' can't host 'li'; use the full auxiliary 'jesi'.
✅ Jesi li došao?
Have you come?
❌ Da li li dolaziš?
Incorrect — choose ONE strategy: either 'da li' or 'li', never both.
✅ Dolaziš li? / Da li dolaziš?
Are you coming? — pick one construction.
❌ Je Marko doma?
Incorrect — a yes/no question needs 'li': 'Je li Marko doma?'. Bare 'je' is just a statement.
✅ Je li Marko doma?
Is Marko home?
Key Takeaways
- li is the yes/no question particle: stressless, never first, always in second position behind the fronted (usually verb/auxiliary) word — Ideš li?, Možeš li mi pomoći?
- li is a second-position clitic that competes with the auxiliary cluster; in perfect/future questions use the full auxiliary to host it: Jesi li došao?, Hoćeš li doći? — see the clitic cluster order.
- je li (colloquial jel' / je l') is the all-purpose question opener and tag „right?".
- Colloquial da li + clause (Da li dolaziš?) is common everywhere but dispreferred in standard Croatian, which favours Dolaziš li?
- Bare rising intonation (Dolaziš?) is the most casual yes/no question.
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- Yes/No QuestionsA1 — The three ways to ask a Croatian yes/no question — verb + li, rising intonation, and colloquial da li — plus the all-purpose je li and answering by repeating the verb.
- biti and htjeti: The Two AuxiliariesA1 — The 'to be' and 'to want' verbs that power compound tenses.
- The Order Within the Clitic ClusterB1 — The rigid internal template, the je-goes-last exception, and je dropping before se.
- Emphatic and Modal ParticlesB1 — The flavour particles of spoken Croatian — pa, baš, ma, ta, zar, bar/barem, čak, tek, već — small mood-setters that colour an utterance, with zar marking incredulous questions and Zar ne? as the all-purpose tag.
- The Subordinator daA2 — The workhorse conjunction da — 'that' for reported speech, 'so that' for purpose, the infinitive-replacing da + present, commands, and wishes — always with the indicative.