Breakdown of Je li sestra doma?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
doma
at home / home (direction)
li
question particle
sestra
sister
Questions & Answers about Je li sestra doma?
We just learned to ask questions like 'Gdje je sestra?' (Where is sister?). Why do we use Je li here instead of just starting with Je?
When you use a question word like Gdje (Where), you just add je (is). But for a simple yes/no question like this one, you cannot just start with Je. You must add the little question particle li right after it to signal that you are asking a question.
Why is there no word for 'the' or 'my' before sestra?
Croatian does not have articles like 'a' or 'the', so they are simply left out. Additionally, when talking about close family members in an obvious context, native speakers often skip possessive words like 'my' or 'your'. You can just say sestra.
I learned that the word for 'house' is kuća. Why do we use doma here?
Kuća is a noun referring to the physical building itself. Doma is an adverb that specifically means 'at home'. Whenever you want to say someone is at home, you use doma.
Will I hear native speakers say Je li exactly like this in real life?
In everyday spoken Croatian, native speakers almost always squish Je li together into a single word: Jel. You will hear 'Jel sestra doma?' very often, though Je li is the correct way to write it in formal text.
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