Jesi li mami već pokazao labuda? Jesam, pokazao sam joj ga jutros.

In standard Croatian, a yes/no question is often formed with the auxiliary plus the question particle li.

So:

• Jesi li ... ? = Have you ... ?
• Je li ... ? = Is/has ... ?

Here, jesi is the 2nd person singular form of biti used in the perfect tense, and li marks the sentence as a question.

A useful pattern is:

• statement: Pokazao si mami labuda.
• question: Jesi li mami pokazao labuda?

So li is a key part of the standard question form.

Jesam is the stressed, full form of the auxiliary sam. Croatian uses these full forms when answering a yes/no question directly.

So:

• Jesam. = Yes, I did / Yes, I have.
• Nisam. = No, I didn’t / No, I haven’t.

The short form sam is a clitic, so it normally cannot stand alone. That is why Croatian says Jesam, not just Sam.

In this sentence:

• Jesam, pokazao sam joj ga jutros.

the speaker first gives the short yes-answer Jesam, then adds the full sentence.

Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb form already shows the person.

Here:

• jesi already means you have
• jesam already means I have
• sam in pokazao sam already means I

So Croatian does not need ti or ja unless you want extra emphasis.

For example:

• Jesi li mami već pokazao labuda? = normal
• Jesi li ti mami već pokazao labuda? = more emphatic, like Have you shown Mom the swan?

Because mami is the dative singular form of mama.

The verb pokazati follows the pattern:

• pokazati nekome nešto = to show someone something

So:

• mami = to Mom
• labuda = the swan as the thing being shown

This is one of the most important patterns to learn:

• Dative for the person receiving or being shown something
• Accusative for the direct object

Examples:

• Dao sam mami knjigu. = I gave Mom a book.
• Pokazao sam mami sliku. = I showed Mom the picture.

Because labuda is the accusative singular form of labud, and labud is a masculine animate noun.

In Croatian, masculine animate nouns usually have:

• nominative singular: labud
• accusative singular: labuda

That happens because animals count as animate, not just people.

Compare:

• Vidim psa. = I see the dog.
• Vidim čovjeka. = I see the man.
• Vidim labuda. = I see the swan.

But masculine inanimate nouns usually keep the same form in nominative and accusative:

• stol → vidim stol

So labuda is not random; it is the expected accusative form for a masculine animate noun.

Pokazao is the past active participle used to form the Croatian perfect tense.

The perfect is built with:

• a form of biti
• the past participle

So:

• jesi ... pokazao = have you shown
• pokazao sam = I showed / I have shown

The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, not with the object.

Here pokazao is masculine singular, which suggests a male speaker in the answer and a male addressee in the question.

If the speaker or addressee were female, you would get:

• Jesi li mami već pokazala labuda?
• Jesam, pokazala sam joj ga jutros.

These are object pronouns replacing the full nouns:

• joj = to her
• ga = him/it, here referring to labuda

So instead of repeating:

• Pokazao sam mami labuda jutros

the answer says:

• Pokazao sam joj ga jutros

That is very natural in Croatian. English also often does this:

• I showed Mom the swan
• I showed her it

Even though English sometimes avoids her it, Croatian uses the pronouns very comfortably.

Because Croatian clitics have a preferred order, and dative clitics normally come before accusative clitics.

So the natural order is:

• joj ga = to her it

not usually:

• ga joj

This is part of the broader Croatian clitic system. In standard word order, these little unstressed words tend to cluster together in a fixed sequence.

So:

• Pokazao sam joj ga jutros. is the normal order.

Već means already.

In this question, it adds the idea of completed action before now:

• Jesi li mami već pokazao labuda? = Have you already shown Mom the swan?

Its position is somewhat flexible, though not completely free. Croatian word order often changes emphasis rather than basic meaning.

For example, these can all work with slightly different focus:

• Jesi li mami već pokazao labuda?
• Jesi li već mami pokazao labuda?
• Jesi li mami pokazao labuda već? — possible in speech, but less neutral

The version in your sentence sounds very natural.

Because jutros is an adverb meaning this morning or in the morning today.

It works by itself, unlike some English expressions that need a preposition.

So:

• jutros = this morning
• danas = today
• jučer = yesterday
• sutra = tomorrow

That is why Croatian says:

• Pokazao sam joj ga jutros.

not something like u jutros.

Because this sentence talks about a single completed action: showing the swan.

Croatian verbs come in aspect pairs, and here the relevant contrast is:

• pokazati = perfective
• pokazivati = imperfective

Perfective is used when the action is seen as a whole, completed event. That matches both:

• već = already
• jutros = this morning, a specific completed occasion

So the sentence asks whether the showing has already been completed.

If you used the imperfective, it would suggest repetition, process, or a more ongoing view of the action, which is not the main idea here.

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but not completely free. The main things that are less movable are the clitics such as li, sam, joj, and ga, which follow special placement rules.

So the sentence could be rearranged for emphasis:

• Jesi li već mami pokazao labuda?
• Jutros sam joj ga pokazao.
• Pokazao sam joj ga jutros.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the focus shifts:

• Jutros sam joj ga pokazao. emphasizes this morning
• Pokazao sam joj ga jutros. is a natural neutral answer
• Jesi li već mami pokazao labuda? puts already a bit earlier

So yes, Croatian allows movement for emphasis, but the clitic positions still matter.