Breakdown of Je li film zanimljiv?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
zanimljiv
interesting
li
question particle
film
movie
Questions & Answers about Je li film zanimljiv?
Why do we use Je li to ask this question?
In Croatian, a common way to ask a yes/no question is to put the verb first, followed by the question word li. Since je means "is", starting with Je li is how you ask "Is (something)...?".
Does the word li mean anything on its own?
No, li doesn't translate to an English word. It is just a small grammar word, or particle, that tells you a question is being asked.
Why does the adjective end in a consonant (zanimljiv) instead of -a or -o?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. The noun film ends in a consonant, which makes it masculine. So, we use the masculine form of the adjective, zanimljiv, instead of the feminine zanimljiva or neuter zanimljivo.
How would the word order change if this was a statement instead of a question?
To say "The movie is interesting.", you drop the question word li and use the standard subject-verb order: Film je zanimljiv.