Questions & Answers about Je li ovaj plan moguć?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.