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### Yes/No Questions in the Past Tense

To ask a yes/no question in the past tense, you cannot start the sentence with the short, unstressed forms of the auxiliary verb **biti** (sam, si, etc.). Instead, you use their **long (stressed) forms** followed by the question word **li**.

| Pronoun | Long form of biti |
|---|---|
| ja (I) | jesam |
| ti (you) | jesi |
| on / ona / ono (he/she/it) | je * |
| mi (we) | jesmo |
| vi (you pl.) | jeste |
| oni / one / ona (they) | jesu |

*Note: For the third-person singular, **je** is used for both the short and long form.*

The basic structure is: **Long form verb** + **li** + **l-participle** + **rest of the sentence**.

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### Reflexive Verbs in Questions

If the verb is reflexive (like **odmarati se**), the reflexive pronoun **se** is a short clitic. Because the question word **li** claims the second position in the sentence, **se** gets pushed to the third position, placing it right before the l-participle.

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### Matching Gender and Number

Just like in regular statements, the l-participle in your question must always match the gender and number of the subject. Pay close attention to the endings, especially when asking about "her" or "them".

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### Common Responses

When replying to past tense questions, you will often use conversational adverbs to confirm or deny the event. Words like **naravno** (of course) and **nažalost** (unfortunately) are great ways to add natural flavor to your answers.

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Past tense questions (jeste li)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular pronouns and to be (sam, si, je)

Noun genders (-Ø, -a, -o/-e)

Demonstrative pronouns (ovaj, ova, ovo)

Plural pronouns and to be (smo, ste, su)

Masculine plural nouns (-i)

Feminine plural nouns (-e)

Neuter plural nouns (-a)

Full verb to be (jesam, jesi)

Negative verb to be (nisam, nisi)

Yes/no questions (je li)

Wh- questions (tko, gdje)

Formal vs informal address (ti vs Vi)

Regular present tense (-ati)

Regular present tense (-iti)

Regular present tense (-jeti)

Verb negation (ne)

The verb to have (imati / nemati)

Inanimate direct objects

Feminine direct objects (-u)

Plural direct objects (-e, -a)

Accusative pronouns (me, te, ga, ju)

Adjective agreement

Plural adjectives

Accusative adjectives

Numbers 1 to 10 (jedan, dva, tri)

The locative case (-u)

Feminine locative (-i)

The verb to go (ići)

Destination (u, na)

The genitive case (-a)

Accusative pronouns (nas, vas, ga, ih)

Animate masculine accusative (-a)

Adjective agreement for animate masculine (-og, -eg)

The verb can (moći)

The verb must (morati)

The verb to want (htjeti, hoću)

The future tense (ću/ćeš + infinitive)

The past tense: l-participle (radio, radila)

Past tense word order (Prvo sam radio...)

Past tense with plural subjects (-li, -le, -la)

Feminine genitive singular (-e)

Possession and origin (od, iz)

Negative existence (nema)

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Genitive plural (-a)

Numbers 11 to 20

Past tense negation (nisam)

Dative singular

Dative pronouns (ti, mu, joj)

Past tense negation (nisam, nisi...)

Double object pronouns (mu ga, ti ju...)

Reflexive verbs (se)

Reflexive clitic word order

Commands and requests (radi, radite)

Plural demonstratives (ovi, ove, ova)

Possessive determiners (moj, naš, njegov)

Greetings (Dobar dan, doviđenja)

The body: Boli me glava

Directions (lijevo, desno, ravno)

There is, there are (ima)

Politeness (molim vas, hvala lijepa)

How you feel (Sviđa mi se)

Counting by tens to 100 (trideset, četrdeset...)

Quantifiers with the genitive case (malo, puno...)

Adjective agreement in the genitive singular (-og, -e)

Adjective agreement in the genitive plural (-ih)

Genitive prepositions (kod, do, bez...)

Asking what kind and which (kakav, koji)

Possessive determiners (njegov, njezin...)

Possessives in the accusative case

The reflexive possessive (svoj)

Indefinite pronouns (netko, nešto, neki)

Negative pronouns (nitko, ništa)

The verb to need (trebati)

Reciprocal verbs (se)

Introduction to verbal aspect

Perfective verbs with prefixes

Perfective verbs with stem changes

Irregular perfective verbs

Aspect in the past tense

Aspect in the future tense

Vehicular motion (voziti se, putovati)

Arrival and departure ('doći', 'otići')

Entering and exiting ('ući', 'izaći')

Singular accompaniment ('s', 'sa')

Plural instrumental nouns (-ima, -ama)

Question	Answer
last / past	prošli
Did you work last weekend?	Jeste li radili prošli vikend?
to rest	odmarati se
Did he rest last week?	Je li se odmarao prošli tjedan?
Did you rest yesterday?	Jesi li se odmarao jučer?
to go out	izaći
Did you go out last night?	Jesi li izašla sinoć?
the day before yesterday	prekjučer
Did they go out the day before yesterday?	Jesu li izašli prekjučer?
to drive / to ride (a snowboard, skis)	voziti
Did you drive the car the day before yesterday?	Jeste li vozili auto prekjučer?
Did she drive today?	Je li vozila danas?
to enjoy	uživati
Did you enjoy the vacation?	Jeste li uživali na odmoru?
Did they enjoy the concert?	Jesu li uživali na koncertu?
to be late	kasniti
Was the train late yesterday?	Je li vlak jučer kasnio?
Were you late for the meeting?	Jesi li kasnio na sastanak?
to do / to make	napraviti
Did you do the homework yesterday?	Jeste li jučer napravili zadaću?
Did he make breakfast?	Je li napravio doručak?
of course	naravno
Did you finish the project? Of course!	Jesi li završio projekt? Naravno!
Did they buy the tickets? Of course.	Jesu li kupili karte? Naravno.
unfortunately	nažalost
Did you win? Unfortunately, no.	Jesi li pobijedio? Nažalost, ne.
Did she travel to Germany? Unfortunately, no.	Je li putovala u Njemačku? Nažalost, ne.
on time	na vrijeme
Did you come on time?	Jeste li došli na vrijeme?
I did not arrive on time.	Nisam došao na vrijeme.
to do	učiniti
What did you do yesterday?	Što si učinio jučer?
I did not do anything bad.	Nisam učinio ništa loše.

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