Možeš li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ?

Možeš li is a very common Croatian way to say can you...?

• možeš = you can (2nd person singular of moći, to be able / can)
• li = a question particle used to form yes/no questions

So structurally, Croatian is doing something like:

• možeš = you can
• li = marks it as a question

That gives: Can you ...?

Because li is an enclitic, which means it normally goes in the second position in the sentence or clause.

So in:

Možeš li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ?

the first element is Možeš, and li comes right after it.

This is very standard in Croatian yes/no questions:

• Jesi li umoran? = Are you tired?
• Imaš li vremena? = Do you have time?
• Možeš li pomoći? = Can you help?

For an English speaker, it may feel unusual because English uses word order changes like Can you...?, while Croatian often uses li.

It is informal singular.

• možeš = you can when speaking to one person informally

If you want to be polite, or if you are speaking to more than one person, you would usually say:

Možete li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ?

• možete = you can (formal singular or plural)

So:

• Možeš li ...? = informal, one person
• Možete li ...? = polite or plural

Because after a modal verb like moći (can / be able to), Croatian normally uses the infinitive of the main verb.

So:

• možeš = you can
• ponoviti = to repeat

Together:

• Možeš li ponoviti ...? = Can you repeat ...?

This is similar to English:

• Can you repeat ...?

English uses the base verb repeat after can, and Croatian uses the infinitive ponoviti after možeš.

This is about aspect, which is very important in Croatian.

• ponoviti = to repeat once / to repeat something as a completed action
  
  • this is perfective
• ponavljati = to keep repeating / to repeat repeatedly / in general
  
  • this is imperfective

In this sentence, the speaker wants one specific repetition:

Can you repeat this word one more time?

So ponoviti is the natural choice.

If you used ponavljati, it would sound more like repeated or ongoing action, which does not fit as well here.

Još jednom means once more, one more time, or again.

• još = still / more / yet, depending on context
• jednom = once / one time

Together, here it means:

• one more time
• once again

So the phrase is very natural in requests like this:

• Reci još jednom. = Say it one more time.
• Možete li još jednom objasniti? = Could you explain once more?

Because the phrase is in the accusative case, since it is the direct object of ponoviti.

The dictionary form is:

• ova riječ = this word (nominative)

But after a verb like ponoviti (to repeat), you need the object in the accusative:

• ovu riječ = this word (accusative)

So:

• ova riječ = this word as a subject
• ponoviti ovu riječ = to repeat this word as an object

The demonstrative changes:

• ova → ovu

Good question: even though the phrase is in the accusative, riječ stays riječ.

That is because some Croatian nouns have the same form in both nominative and accusative singular.

So here:

• nominative: ova riječ
• accusative: ovu riječ

Only the demonstrative changes clearly; the noun itself stays the same.

This is something English speakers often notice, because the case change is visible in ovu, not in riječ.

It is accusative singular feminine.

Why?

• riječ is a feminine singular noun
• it is the direct object of ponoviti
• direct objects are often in the accusative

So the full grammar is:

• ovu = accusative singular feminine of ovaj / ova / ovo (this)
• riječ = noun in accusative singular, same form as nominative here

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English, though some versions sound more natural than others.

The original:

Možeš li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ?

is very natural.

You could also hear:

Možeš li ponoviti ovu riječ još jednom?

This is also natural, with slightly different emphasis.

Croatian often moves adverbs like još jednom around more freely than English does. But li still has to stay in its normal second-position slot.

So:

• Možeš li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ? ✅
• Možeš li ponoviti ovu riječ još jednom? ✅
• Li možeš ... ❌

In casual speech, sometimes yes, but the meaning and style change a bit.

You may hear:

Možeš još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ?

This is common in everyday conversation and still clearly sounds like a question because of intonation.

However, Možeš li ...? is more clearly marked as a standard yes/no question and is often taught as the safer, more neutral form.

So:

• Možeš li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ? = standard, very clear question
• Možeš još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ? = common, slightly more conversational

A few sounds may stand out for English speakers:

• ž in možeš sounds like the s in measure
• š in možeš and još sounds like sh in shoe
• č in riječ sounds like a hard ch, roughly like ch in church

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Možeš ≈ MO-zhesh
• li ≈ lee
• još ≈ yosh
• jednom ≈ YED-nom
• ponoviti ≈ po-no-VEE-tee
• ovu riječ ≈ O-voo ryech

Also, Croatian spelling is very regular, so once you learn the letter-sound correspondences, pronunciation becomes much easier than in English.

Yes. A few common alternatives are:

• Možete li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ?
  More polite / formal

• Možeš li ponoviti tu riječ?
  Can you repeat that word?

• Možete li to ponoviti još jednom?
  Could you repeat that one more time?

• Molim vas, možete li još jednom ponoviti ovu riječ?
  Very polite: Please, could you repeat this word once more?

So the original sentence is completely natural, but Croatian gives you several equally good ways to say it depending on formality and emphasis.