Here is the good news for an absolute beginner: the moment you can say a present-tense statement in Croatian, you can also ask it and deny it. There is no extra machinery to learn — no helper verb to insert, no auxiliary to conjugate. To ask a yes/no question you add the little word li (or simply raise your voice); to negate, you put ne in front of the verb. English, by comparison, forces you to drag in a whole second verb — do — every time ("Do you work?", "I don't work"). Croatian does not. This page shows you the complete system, which you can apply to any verb you already know.
Yes/no questions: the particle li
The cleanest way to ask a yes/no question is to put the conjugated verb first and follow it immediately with li:
Radiš li?
Are you working? / Do you work? — verb 'radiš' + the question particle 'li'.
Govoriš li hrvatski?
Do you speak Croatian? — 'govoriš' + 'li', then the rest of the sentence.
Voliš li kavu?
Do you like coffee? — 'voliš' + 'li'.
The structure is rigid in one respect: li clings to the word in front of it and cannot stand alone or move to the end. The verb (or whatever word you are questioning) comes first, li comes second, and everything else follows.
Imaš li auto?
Do you have a car? — 'imaš' + 'li' + the object.
Yes/no questions by intonation alone
In everyday speech you can skip li entirely and just raise your intonation at the end, exactly as English does with "You're coming?". The word order stays that of a statement; only your voice signals the question.
Radiš?
You're working? — same as the statement 'Radiš', but said with rising intonation.
Dolaziš večeras?
You're coming tonight? — statement word order, question intonation. (informal)
This intonation-only question is (informal) and very common in conversation. The li version is neutral and works in any register, so when in doubt, use li.
The je li and da li openers
You will constantly hear two ready-made question openers. The first is je li (often written and pronounced je l' in fast speech), literally "is it (that)…". It can launch a yes/no question about a whole clause:
Je li ovo tvoje?
Is this yours? — 'je li' questioning the copula 'je'.
Je li Marko kod kuće?
Is Marko at home? — 'je li' opening a yes/no question.
Je l' dolaziš?
You coming? — the reduced spoken form 'je l''. (informal)
The second opener, da li, also begins a yes/no question and is interchangeable in meaning with the verb + li pattern:
Da li govoriš engleski?
Do you speak English? — the 'da li' opener + statement word order.
Wh-questions
For information questions, put the question word at the front. The verb follows directly, and — because the question word is now the first stressed element — any clitic verb (like je) leans on it, with no li needed.
| Question word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| što | what | Što radiš? |
| tko | who | Tko dolazi? |
| gdje | where | Gdje živiš? |
| kako | how | Kako se zoveš? |
| kada / kad | when | Kad putuješ? |
| zašto | why | Zašto plačeš? |
| koliko | how much / many | Koliko košta? |
Što radiš?
What are you doing? — the single most common Croatian question.
Gdje živiš?
Where do you live? — 'gdje' + verb.
Kako se zoveš?
What's your name? (lit. How do you call yourself?) — 'kako' + the reflexive verb 'zvati se'.
Zašto ne jedeš?
Why aren't you eating? — a wh-word combined with the negation 'ne'.
Notice that you do not add li to a wh-question. The question word already does the work; Što radiš li? is wrong. Li belongs only to yes/no questions.
Negation: ne before the verb
To negate any ordinary verb, place the stressed word ne directly in front of it. That is the entire rule.
Ne radim danas.
I'm not working today. — 'ne' + 'radim'.
Ne znam.
I don't know. — 'ne' + 'znam', a phrase you'll use daily.
Ne razumijem te.
I don't understand you. — 'ne' + 'razumijem' + the object.
There is no equivalent of English don't / doesn't. You never insert a helper verb; ne attaches straight to the lexical verb, and it does so for every person identically: ne radim, ne radiš, ne radi, ne radimo, ne radite, ne rade.
On ne govori hrvatski.
He doesn't speak Croatian. — note: no 'does', just 'ne' + 'govori'.
The three verbs that fuse: nisam, nemam, neću
There are exactly three high-frequency verbs where ne does not stay as a separate word but fuses into the verb. You must memorise these, because they break the otherwise perfect pattern.
| Verb | Affirmative | Negative (fused) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| biti (to be) | sam / je … | nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu | am not, isn't … |
| imati (to have) | imam … | nemam, nemaš, nema, nemamo, nemate, nemaju | don't have … |
| htjeti (to want / will) | hoću / ću … | neću, nećeš, neće, nećemo, nećete, neće | don't want / won't … |
Nisam umoran.
I'm not tired. — fused negative of 'biti' (man speaking).
Nemam vremena.
I don't have time. — fused negative of 'imati'.
Neću to jesti.
I won't eat that. / I don't want to eat that. — fused negative of 'htjeti'.
Everything else negates with a plain separate ne. These three (plus the biti family of the past tense) are the only exceptions you meet at A1. Full coverage on negating verbs.
Short answers: Da and Ne
A bare Da ("yes") or Ne ("no") works, but Croatian often answers a yes/no question by echoing the verb — much like English "Yes, I do / No, I'm not". For biti you echo the full form jesam / nisam:
Jesi li gladan? — Da, jesam.
Are you hungry? — Yes, I am. — echo the full 'jesam'.
Jesi li gladan? — Ne, nisam.
Are you hungry? — No, I'm not. — echo the negative 'nisam'.
Imaš li djece? — Nemam.
Do you have children? — No (I don't). — the verb itself answers.
Putting it together
The payoff of this system is that one statement gives you three sentences for free. Take Govoriš hrvatski ("You speak Croatian"):
Govoriš hrvatski. / Govoriš li hrvatski? / Ne govoriš hrvatski.
You speak Croatian. / Do you speak Croatian? / You don't speak Croatian. — statement, question, negative from one verb form.
No new conjugation, no helper verb — just li added or ne prefixed. For the deeper rules on where li sits and how it interacts with other little words, see the question particle li; for the full inventory of question types, see yes/no questions and wh-questions.
Common Mistakes
❌ Da ti radiš?
Incorrect — English speakers reach for a 'do'; Croatian has no do-support. Use 'li'.
✅ Radiš li?
Do you work? — verb + 'li', no helper verb.
❌ Li radiš?
Incorrect — 'li' can never begin a sentence; it must come second, leaning on the verb.
✅ Radiš li?
Do you work? — 'li' in second position.
❌ Što radiš li?
Incorrect — wh-questions never take 'li'; the question word already marks the question.
✅ Što radiš?
What are you doing? — wh-word + verb, no 'li'.
❌ Ja ne imam vremena.
Incorrect — 'imati' fuses its negative; 'ne imam' is not standard.
✅ Nemam vremena.
I don't have time. — the fused negative 'nemam'.
❌ Ne sam umoran.
Incorrect — 'biti' fuses too; 'ne' + 'sam' becomes one word.
✅ Nisam umoran.
I'm not tired. — the fused negative 'nisam'.
Key Takeaways
- Yes/no questions: put the verb first and add li (Radiš li?), or just raise your intonation (Radiš? — informal). The openers je li and da li also work; Croatian prefers the tight verb + li form.
- Wh-questions: front the question word (Što? Gdje? Kako? Zašto?) — and never add li.
- Negation: put ne before the verb (Ne radim). There is no do-support — far simpler than English.
- Only three common verbs fuse: nisam (not ne sam), nemam (not ne imam), neću (not ne ću).
- Echo the verb in short answers: Jesi li…? — Jesam / Nisam.
Now practice Croatian
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- Negating VerbsA1 — ne, the fused negatives nisam/neću/nemam, and placement.
- The Question Particle liA2 — The yes/no question particle li in second position, the fixed je li opener and tag, and how it competes with the clitic cluster against colloquial da li and pure intonation questions.
- 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.
- Wh-Questions (Question Words)A1 — Croatian content questions with tko, što, koji, kakav, čiji and the place/time/manner words — the question word comes first, drags any preposition with it, and takes whatever case the verb assigns.
- biti and htjeti: The Two AuxiliariesA1 — The 'to be' and 'to want' verbs that power compound tenses.
- Present Tense: -a- VerbsA1 — The largest, most regular present conjugation.