Možeš li da čekaš još pet minuta, ili moraš odmah da ideš?

to go

Breakdown of Možeš li da čekaš još pet minuta, ili moraš odmah da ideš?

• moći: can
• morati: must
• ili: or

Questions & Answers about Možeš li da čekaš još pet minuta, ili moraš odmah da ideš?

What does Možeš li mean, and why is li there?

Možeš li means Can you... ?

The particle li is a very common way to form yes/no questions in Serbian. In this pattern, the verb usually comes first, and li comes right after it:

• Možeš li...? = Can you...?
• Imaš li...? = Do you have...?
• Znaš li...? = Do you know...?

So Možeš li da čekaš...? is literally something like Can you wait...?

Why is it da čekaš instead of just an infinitive?

After many verbs in Serbian, especially modal verbs like moći (can) and morati (must), Serbian very often uses da + present tense instead of an infinitive.

So:

• možeš da čekaš = you can wait
• moraš da ideš = you must go

This is one of the most important structures in modern Serbian. English speakers often expect an infinitive like to wait, but Serbian commonly uses da + present where English uses to + verb.

Is da here the same as that in English?

Historically and literally, can often be translated as , but in sentences like this, it usually should not be understood that way in normal English.