Breakdown of Jesu li te ležaljke i suncobrani slobodni?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
i
and (additive)
li
question particle
slobodan
free
taj
that (masculine)
ležaljka
sunbed
suncobran
parasol
Questions & Answers about Jesu li te ležaljke i suncobrani slobodni?
The subjects are feminine (ležaljke) and masculine (suncobrani). Why is the adjective slobodni in the masculine plural?
In Croatian, when you have a mixed group of subjects with different grammatical genders, any describing adjectives or past tense verbs default to the masculine plural. Because suncobrani is masculine, slobodni takes the masculine plural ending -i.
Does slobodni mean these sunbeds do not cost any money?
No, in this context, slobodan means 'free' in the sense of 'available' or 'unoccupied'. If you want to ask if the sunbeds are free of charge, you must use the word besplatan and ask, Jesu li te ležaljke i suncobrani besplatni?.
Why is the word for 'those' te if the overall group is treated as masculine plural?
The demonstrative pronoun te agrees directly with the noun immediately following it, which is the feminine plural ležaljke. If you swapped the word order, the pronoun would match the masculine noun instead, giving you ti suncobrani i ležaljke.
Could I start this sentence with Da li su instead of Jesu li?
Yes, in spoken Croatian, you will often hear people start with Da li su. However, Jesu li is the standard, more grammatically correct way to form yes/no questions. You create it by using the emphatic form of the verb to be (jesu) followed by the question particle li.
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