Breakdown of Je li sve ovdje?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ovdje
here
li
question particle
sav
all (of a whole) / everyone, all (people) / everything
Questions & Answers about Je li sve ovdje?
Why is sve used here instead of sav or sva?
When you want to say "everything" in a general sense without referring to a specific noun, Croatian uses the neuter singular form sve. The words sav (masculine) and sva (feminine) are used when "all" describes a specific noun, like sav kruh (all the bread). Here, sve is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.
Why is the verb je (is) singular when "everything" refers to multiple things?
Just like in English where we say "everything is" rather than "everything are," the Croatian word sve is grammatically singular. Therefore, it takes the third-person singular verb je.
Could I start this sentence with Da li instead?
Yes, you can say Da li je sve ovdje? Both are used to ask yes/no questions. While je li is considered more standard in Croatian grammar, da li je is very common in everyday speech. Notice that when you use da li, the verb je comes right after it.
I often mix up ovdje and tu. Can you remind me of the difference?
ovdje means "here" (close to the person speaking). tu means "there" (closer to the person you are talking to). If you were asking if everything had arrived at your friend's house while talking to them on the phone, you would instead ask Je li sve tu?
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