Breakdown of Možete li da mi objasnite novi plan i da proverite adresu muzeja?
i
and
moći
can
mi
me
li
question particle
Questions & Answers about Možete li da mi objasnite novi plan i da proverite adresu muzeja?
Why does the sentence start with Možete li?
Možete li is a very common Serbian way to ask a polite yes/no question meaning Can you...? or Could you...?
- možete = you can / are you able
- li = a question particle used in yes/no questions
So Možete li da... means Can/Could you...
It is polite because možete is the 2nd person plural form, which Serbian also uses for formal singular address. So this sentence can be said either:
- to one person politely, or
- to several people
Why is li placed after možete?
In Serbian, li usually comes after the first stressed word of the question, very often after the finite verb.
So:
- Možete da mi objasnite... = statement
- Možete li da mi objasnite...? = question
This placement is normal and important. A learner should get used to the pattern:
- Hoćeš li...?
- Imaš li...?
- Možete li...?
Why does Serbian use da + verb here instead of an infinitive?
Serbian very often uses da + present tense where English uses .