Questions & Answers about Da li voliš čaj ili kafu?
What does Da li do at the beginning of the sentence?
Da li is a very common way to turn a statement into a yes/no question in Serbian.
So:
- Voliš čaj ili kafu. = You like tea or coffee. / You like tea or coffee.
- Da li voliš čaj ili kafu? = Do you like tea or coffee?
It does not translate word-for-word very neatly into English, but in function it is similar to English do in questions like Do you like...?
What form is voliš?
Voliš is the 2nd person singular present tense of voleti, meaning to love / to like.
So:
- ja volim = I like
- ti voliš = you like
- on/ona voli = he/she likes
Because the sentence is addressing you singular, Serbian uses voliš.
Why is there no separate word for you in the sentence?
In Serbian, the verb ending often already shows who the subject is, so the pronoun is usually unnecessary.
- voliš already means you like
That is why Serbian can simply say:
- Da li voliš čaj ili kafu?
instead of explicitly saying:
- Da li ti voliš čaj ili kafu?
Adding ti is possible, but it usually adds emphasis, like Do you like tea or coffee?