Možete li mi, molim vas, reći imate li danas svježi poriluk i brokulu?

Because Croatian uses li to mark a yes/no question.

• Možete li... = Can/Could you...
• imate li... = whether you have / do you have

In this sentence, the first li makes the main question polite:

• Možete li mi reći... = Could you tell me...

The second li introduces the embedded question after reći:

• imate li danas... = whether you have today...

So the whole structure is basically:

• Could you tell me whether you have fresh leeks and broccoli today?

Li is a small unstressed question particle. In standard Croatian, it usually comes right after the first stressed word, which is often the verb.

So you get:

• Možete li...?
• Imate li...?

That is the normal Croatian pattern for yes/no questions.

An English speaker may expect something more like li možete, but that is not how this structure works in standard Croatian.

Mi means to me.

It is the dative form of ja (I/me), and it goes with reći:

• reći mi = tell me

So:

• Možete li mi reći... = Could you tell me...

English sometimes includes me and sometimes omits it, but in Croatian mi sounds very natural here.

Molim vas means please (literally something like I beg you / I ask you in older logic, but in modern use just please).

It is placed in the middle as a polite parenthetical phrase:

• Možete li mi, molim vas, reći...

The commas show that it is inserted into the sentence rather than being a core grammatical part of it.

You could also hear or say:

• Molim vas, možete li mi reći...?
• Možete li mi reći, molim vas...?

All are natural. The version in your sentence sounds very polite and smooth.

After verbs like reći (to say/tell), Croatian often uses an embedded yes/no question with li.

So:

• reći imate li... = tell me whether you have...

English often uses if or whether here, but Croatian commonly uses the verb + li structure instead.

A learner may also come across da li, but in standard Croatian, imate li is usually the more elegant and preferred form in sentences like this.

Good question. The adjective svježi is stated only once, before the first noun, but it is understood to apply to both items:

• svježi poriluk i brokulu = fresh leek and broccoli

If you wanted to say it fully and explicitly, you could say:

• svježi poriluk i svježu brokulu

The reason the adjective is not shared in exactly the same form is that the two nouns have different grammatical gender and case forms:

• poriluk is masculine
• brokula is feminine

So one single adjective form cannot neatly agree with both at once. In real usage, Croatian often mentions the adjective once and lets the listener understand it with both nouns.

Because both nouns are direct objects here, so they are in the accusative case.

But different noun types behave differently:

• poriluk is masculine inanimate, and masculine inanimate nouns usually have the same form in nominative and accusative singular:
  • poriluk → poriluk
• brokula is a regular feminine noun in -a, and in the accusative singular it changes:
  • brokula → brokulu

So:

• imate poriluk
• imate brokulu

That is why one changes and the other does not.

Because it agrees with poriluk, which is:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative
• inanimate

For masculine inanimate singular, the accusative adjective form is the same as the nominative:

• svježi poriluk

If you explicitly repeated the adjective with brokulu, it would need a different form:

• svježu brokulu

So the adjective changes depending on the noun it matches.

Yes, brokula is singular in Croatian.

Croatian treats it as a normal feminine singular noun:

• nominative: brokula
• accusative: brokulu

So in a shop, asking for brokulu is perfectly natural.

If you were talking about several separate broccoli heads or types, you could use the plural:

• brokule

But in everyday buying/selling language, the singular is very common.

Yes, it is polite and fairly formal.

The signs are:

• Možete — this can be plural you, but it is also the polite singular you
• molim vas — polite please
• the indirect structure Možete li mi reći... instead of the more direct Imate li...?

So this is exactly the kind of sentence you might use in a shop, market, or when speaking respectfully to a stranger.

Yes, absolutely. That is shorter and very natural.

Compare:

• Imate li danas svježi poriluk i brokulu?
  = Do you have fresh leek and broccoli today?
• Možete li mi, molim vas, reći imate li danas svježi poriluk i brokulu?
  = Could you please tell me whether you have fresh leek and broccoli today?

The longer version is simply more polite, more indirect, and a little more formal.

Croatian has fairly flexible word order, but some small words follow strong placement rules.

In this sentence, the important little words are:

• li
• mi

These are unstressed clitic-like elements, and they tend to appear near the beginning of the clause.

That is why:

• Možete li mi... sounds natural

rather than something more English-like.

Also, molim vas can be inserted parenthetically without changing the basic grammar:

• Možete li mi reći...
• Možete li mi, molim vas, reći...

So although the sentence may feel long to an English speaker, its order is very normal in Croatian.

Danas means today.

It makes the question specifically about today’s stock or availability:

• imate li danas... = do you have today... / do you have today in stock...

Without danas, the question would be more general:

• Imate li svježi poriluk i brokulu?
  = Do you have fresh leek and broccoli?

With danas, it sounds more like a real shopping question about what is available right now.