Je li ovaj plan moguć?

Is this plan possible?

Breakdown of Je li ovaj plan moguć?

• biti: to be
• plan: plan
• ovaj: this
• moguć: possible

Questions & Answers about Je li ovaj plan moguć?

What does je li literally mean, and how does it turn the sentence into a question?

Je is the 3rd person singular of biti (to be) – it means “is”.
Li is a question particle that turns a statement into a yes/no question.

The neutral statement would be: Ovaj plan je moguć. – “This plan is possible.”
To make it a yes/no question, Croatian usually puts the verb first and adds li:

• Je li ovaj plan moguć? – literally “Is li this plan possible?” → understood as “Is this plan possible?”

So the pattern is:

• [verb] + li + [rest of the sentence] for yes/no questions with biti.

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Can I use da li instead of je li, and is there any difference?

Yes, you will often hear and see da li used in speech and writing:

• Da li je ovaj plan moguć?

In practice:

• Je li is slightly more standard/formal and is what you often see in careful writing, books, news, etc.
• Da li is very common in everyday speech and in TV, internet, etc. It’s widely understood and accepted.

For your own Croatian:

• You can safely use je li anywhere.
• Using da li is fine too, especially in spoken or informal contexts.

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Is the word order fixed? Can I say Je li moguć ovaj plan? or Ovaj plan je li moguć?

The most natural, neutral version is:

• Je li ovaj plan moguć?

Other variants:

• Je li moguć ovaj plan? – possible, and can be used to emphasize “possible” (the quality) a bit more than “this plan”. Still correct.
• Ovaj plan je li moguć? – sounds awkward/unnatural; native speakers normally wouldn’t say it like this.

Safe rule:
For questions like this, keep:

• Je li + subject + predicative adjective/noun?
  → Je li ovaj plan moguć?

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Why is it ovaj plan and not ovo plan?

In Croatian, demonstratives agree in gender, number, and case with the noun.

• Plan is masculine singular, nominative.
• The masculine singular nominative form of “this” is ovaj.

So:

• ovaj plan = this plan (masculine)

• ovo is neuter, used alone or with neuter nouns:

  • ovo je dobro – this is good
  • ovo selo – this village (because selo is neuter)

Here you are directly modifying plan, so you must use the masculine form ovaj, not the neuter ovo.

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What’s the difference between ovaj, taj, and onaj? They all seem like “this/that”.

All three are demonstrative adjectives/pronouns, but they show different distance or reference:

• ovaj – this (near the speaker, or just mentioned and “in focus”)
• taj – that (near the listener, or something you both know/are talking about)
• onaj – that over there / that (more distant or less present in the situation)

In practice:

• Ovaj plan – this plan (the one I’m presenting/holding/just mentioned)
• Taj plan – that plan (the one you mentioned, or that one over there closer to you)
• Onaj plan – that plan (farther away, or from some other situation/time)

In many contexts, English just says “this/that plan”, while Croatian can make these finer distinctions.

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What form is moguć, and why isn’t it moguće here?

Moguć is an adjective meaning “possible”.
In Je li ovaj plan moguć? it’s:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative, to agree with plan.

So:

• plan (masc. sg. nom.) → moguć (masc. sg. nom.)

Moguće is:

• the neuter form of the same adjective

• often used as a general, impersonal predicate:

  • Je li moguće? – Is it possible?
  • To je moguće. – That is possible. (to is neuter)

Since plan is masculine, the adjective must match: plan je moguć, Je li ovaj plan moguć?

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Could I say Je li ovo moguće? instead of Je li ovaj plan moguć?

Yes, but the meaning shifts slightly:

• Je li ovaj plan moguć? – Is this plan possible? (you are explicitly talking about the plan)
• Je li ovo moguće? – Is this possible? (more general: “Is what I’m seeing/hearing/considering possible?”)

Use ovaj plan when you want to clearly refer to the plan as a noun.
Use ovo when you’re referring to “this (situation/thing/idea)” more loosely.

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Is je li formal, and how would people say this in casual speech?

Je li is standard and neutral – not strictly formal, just correct and slightly bookish.

In casual spoken Croatian, you’ll often hear:

• Jel ovaj plan moguć?
• Je l’ ovaj plan moguć?
  (Spelled variously as jel, je l’, jel’.)

These are colloquial contractions of je li.

So:

• Neutral/standard: Je li ovaj plan moguć?
• Informal/spoken: Jel ovaj plan moguć?

Both mean the same thing.

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Can I put li in front of the verb, like Li je ovaj plan moguć?

No. Li is a clitic that must follow certain elements (usually the verb) and cannot stand alone at the beginning like that.

Correct patterns:

• Je li ovaj plan moguć? – correct
• Li je ovaj plan moguć? – incorrect

Think of li as something that “sticks” to the verb or another word; it doesn’t freely move to the very front.

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How would I answer this question with “yes” or “no” in Croatian?

Basic answers:

• Da, moguć je. – Yes, it’s possible.
• Ne, nije moguć. – No, it’s not possible.

You can also answer more fully:

• Da, ovaj plan je moguć. – Yes, this plan is possible.
• Ne, ovaj plan nije moguć. – No, this plan is not possible.

The short answers with just moguć je / nije moguć are very natural in conversation.

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How do I turn this into an indirect question, like “I wonder if this plan is possible”?

In an indirect question, Croatian often keeps “je li”:

• Pitam se je li ovaj plan moguć. – I wonder if this plan is possible.
• Ne znam je li ovaj plan moguć. – I don’t know if this plan is possible.

So the pattern is:

• [verb like “wonder/ask/know”] + je li + [clause]

You do not change the word order back to a statement; you keep je li.

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What is the grammatical structure of the sentence Je li ovaj plan moguć?

Breakdown:

• Je – verb biti (to be), 3rd person singular present (is)
• li – yes/no question particle
• ovaj – demonstrative adjective, masculine singular nominative (this)
• plan – noun, masculine singular nominative (plan), subject
• moguć – adjective, masculine singular nominative (possible), predicative adjective

Structure:

• [Verb (je)] + [question particle (li)] + [subject (ovaj plan)] + [predicative adjective (moguć)]

This is just the question form of the statement:

• Ovaj plan je moguć. – This plan is possible.