Word
Možete li mi još jednom reći svoje prezime?
Meaning
Could you tell me your surname once again?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Možete li mi još jednom reći svoje prezime?
moći
to be able to
mi
me (dative short form)
reći
to tell
svoj
own
Questions & Answers about Možete li mi još jednom reći svoje prezime?
Why does the sentence start with Možete li?
Možete li is a very common way to form a polite yes/no question in Croatian.
- možete = you can / you are able to
- li = a question particle used in standard Croatian yes/no questions
So Možete li... ? means something like Can you... ? or Could you... ?
It is the polite/formal form, or it can also address more than one person.
What exactly does li do?
Li marks the sentence as a yes/no question.
In standard Croatian, it often comes right after the first stressed word, especially after the verb:
- Možete li mi reći...? = Can you tell me...?
- Znate li...? = Do you know...?
English learners often expect Croatian to use intonation alone, but li is a very normal grammatical way to ask questions.
Why is it možete and not možeš?