Questions & Answers about Da li bi trebalo da priredimo proslavu u stanu?
What does da li do in this sentence?
Da li is a very common way to form a yes/no question in Serbian.
So:
- Da li bi trebalo da priredimo proslavu u stanu? = Should we organize/throw a celebration in the apartment?
You can think of da li as a question marker. It does not translate neatly word-for-word into English, but it signals that the whole sentence is being asked as a question.
A very common alternative is to ask the same thing with different word order:
- Bi li trebalo da priredimo proslavu u stanu?
Both are natural.
Why is bi trebalo used here? Does it mean should?
Yes. In this sentence, bi trebalo is a common Serbian way to express should or ought to.
Breakdown:
- bi = a conditional/modal auxiliary
- trebalo = from trebati, which often means to be needed, to need, or in this pattern, should
Together, bi trebalo often means:
- should
- it would be advisable to
- it would be a good idea to
So Da li bi trebalo... is a polite, somewhat tentative way to ask for advice or a suggestion.
Why is there another da after ?