Možete li mi, molim vas, reći je li ta lektira još u knjižnici?

In Croatian, li is a common question particle used to turn a statement into a yes/no question.

• Možete = you can / you are able
• Možete li... ? = Can you... ?

So Možete li mi reći... ? is the polite way to say Can you tell me... ?

Without li, Možete would usually sound like a statement, not a question.

In Croatian, li normally goes in the second position of the clause, and very often it follows the verb directly.

So:

• Možete li... ? = correct
• Li možete... ? = incorrect

This is a fixed pattern you will see a lot:

• Jeste li dobro?
• Imaš li vremena?
• Znate li odgovor?

Mi means to me. It is the dative form of ja.

So:

• reći mi = to tell me
• dati mi = to give me
• pokazati mi = to show me

In this sentence, Možete li mi reći... ? literally means Can you tell to me... ?, which is just how Croatian expresses Can you tell me... ?

It is the dative case.

The pronoun forms are:

• nominative: ja = I
• genitive: mene / me
• dative: meni / mi
• accusative: mene / me
• vocative: rarely used
• locative: meni
• instrumental: mnom / sa mnom

Here the short dative form mi is used because Croatian often prefers short clitic pronouns in normal speech and writing.

Molim vas means please in this context.

Literally, it comes from I ask you, but in everyday Croatian it is the normal polite expression for please.

It can appear in different places:

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

All of these are natural. Putting it in the middle softens the request politely.

Vas is the form used for you in the plural or polite singular.

So molim vas is used:

• when speaking to more than one person
• when speaking politely to one person

That matches možete, which is also the plural/polite form.

If you were speaking informally to one person, you would say:

• Možeš li mi, molim te, reći...?

So:

• vi / vas / možete = formal or plural
• ti / te / možeš = informal singular

Because it follows možete.

Croatian often uses a modal verb plus infinitive:

• mogu reći = I can say
• možete reći = you can say
• moram ići = I must go
• želim učiti = I want to study

So Možete li mi reći... ? literally has the structure Can you tell me... ?

Je li introduces an indirect yes/no question here: whether / if.

In this sentence:

• je li ta lektira još u knjižnici = whether that required reading book is still in the library

You will also hear da li in many varieties of Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian, but in standard Croatian je li is generally preferred in careful language.

Compare:

• Reci mi je li ovdje. = Tell me whether he/she/it is here.
• Pitam je li došao. = I am asking whether he came.

So yes, it often overlaps in meaning with da li, but je li is the more standard choice in Croatian.

Because ta lektira is the subject of the embedded clause, so it stays in the nominative case.

Inside the clause je li ta lektira još u knjižnici:

• ta lektira = subject
• je = is
• u knjižnici = in the library

If it were a direct object, then you might see tu lektiru in the accusative. But here it is not the object; it is the thing being talked about as existing in a place.

Lektira usually refers to required reading, especially school reading assignments. Depending on context, it can mean:

• the assigned work itself
• a copy of a required-reading book
• the category of school literature

In this sentence, ta lektira most naturally means that required-reading book / that set-text book.

So it is not just any book. It suggests a book assigned for school.

Here još means still.

So:

• još u knjižnici = still in the library

This suggests that maybe the speaker expects the book might already have been borrowed, moved, or returned.

Be careful: još can also mean more / another in other contexts.

For example:

• Još kave, molim. = More coffee, please.
• Je li još tamo? = Is he/she/it still there?

Context tells you which meaning it has.

Knjižnici is in the locative case because it follows u when expressing location.

• u knjižnici = in the library

Croatian uses:

• u + locative for location
• u + accusative for motion into something

Compare:

• Knjiga je u knjižnici. = The book is in the library.
• Idem u knjižnicu. = I am going to the library.

So here, because the book is located there, knjižnici is locative.

Because molim vas is inserted as a polite parenthetical expression, similar to please in English.

So the commas mark it as an interruption in the main sentence:

• Možete li mi reći... = main structure
• molim vas = polite insertion

This punctuation is very common and natural in writing.

It can be either:

1. plural you
   when speaking to more than one person

2. formal singular you
   when speaking politely to one person

In this sentence, because of the polite tone and molim vas, it is very likely formal singular or polite plural.

If you were talking casually to one friend, you would normally say:

• Možeš li mi, molim te, reći je li ta lektira još u knjižnici?

Some parts are flexible, but some are not.

The most fixed parts are the clitics and particles:

• Možete li is the normal order
• mi also tends to stay early in the sentence
• je li stays together

The polite phrase molim vas can move around more easily.

For example, these are all possible:

• Možete li mi, molim vas, reći je li ta lektira još u knjižnici?
• Molim vas, možete li mi reći je li ta lektira još u knjižnici?
• Možete li mi reći, molim vas, je li ta lektira još u knjižnici?

But Croatian does have strong rules about short words like li, mi, and je, so not every rearrangement will sound natural.

No, not in this sentence.

For an indirect yes/no question after reći, the natural standard choice is je li:

• reći je li... = tell whether / tell if...

Ako means if in the sense of on the condition that, not usually whether.

So:

• Ako dođe, javit ću ti. = If he comes, I will let you know.

But here you want whether, not conditional if, so je li is correct.

Yes. It is a polite and natural way to ask for information.

The politeness comes from several things:

• Možete li... ? instead of a more direct command
• mi making it a personal request
• molim vas adding politeness
• formal/plural vi forms

It would fit well when asking a librarian, teacher, shop assistant, or another person you do not know well.