Da li imaš čaj?

Do you have tea?

Breakdown of Da li imaš čaj?

• imati: to have
• čaj: tea
• da li: do

Questions & Answers about Da li imaš čaj?

What does da li mean here?

Da li is a very common way to turn a statement into a yes/no question in Serbian.

• Imaš čaj. = You have tea.
• Da li imaš čaj? = Do you have tea?

It does not translate word-for-word into English very neatly. Its job is grammatical: it marks the sentence as a question.

Why is the verb imaš used?

Imaš is the 2nd person singular present tense of imati, which means to have.

So:

• ja imam = I have
• ti imaš = you have
• on/ona/ono ima = he/she/it has

Because the sentence is talking to one person and means Do you have... ?, Serbian uses imaš.

Why is there no word for you in the sentence?

In Serbian, subject pronouns are often left out because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• imaš already means you have
• so ti is not necessary

You could say:

• Da li ti imaš čaj?

but that usually adds emphasis, like Do you have tea?