Da li vam se sviđa ova večera?

do

Breakdown of Da li vam se sviđa ova večera?

• vi: you
• ovaj: this
• sviđati se: to like

Questions & Answers about Da li vam se sviđa ova večera?

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 vam se sviđa ova večera?
means Do you like this dinner?

It does not have a neat one-word English equivalent. Its job is simply to turn the sentence into a question.

Why is it vam, not vas?

Because the verb pattern is not the same as English like.

In Serbian, sviđati se works more like to be pleasing to. So the person who experiences the liking goes in the dative case.

• vam = to you / to you all / to you (formal singular)
• vas would be accusative or genitive, which is not what this verb needs

So literally, the structure is closer to:

This dinner is pleasing to you.

That is why vam is correct.

Is vam plural, or can it also be singular?

It can be either:

• plural you: speaking to more than one person
• formal singular you: speaking politely to one person

So this sentence can mean:

• Do you all like this dinner?
• Do you like this dinner? said politely to one person