Da li možeš da mi daš haljinu posle večere?

do

Breakdown of Da li možeš da mi daš haljinu posle večere?

• moći: can
• mi: me
• večera: dinner

Questions & Answers about Da li možeš da mi daš haljinu posle večere?

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:

• Možeš da mi daš haljinu posle večere. = You can give me the dress after dinner.
• Da li možeš da mi daš haljinu posle večere? = Can you give me the dress after dinner?

It does not translate word-for-word very neatly into English; its job is mainly grammatical.

Why are there two da forms in the sentence: Da li and then da again after možeš?

They are doing two different jobs.

• Da li is a question marker.
• The second da introduces the verb clause after možeš.

In Serbian, after verbs like moći (can / be able to), it is very common to use:

• moći + da + present tense

So možeš da daš literally works like you can that you give, but in natural English it is just you can give.

Why is it možeš?

Možeš is the 2nd person singular present tense of moći (to be able / can).

It means you can when speaking to: