Questions and short answers
Questions and short answers – this seems like something pretty basic but we want to make sure we understand everything.
Let’s start with forming questions. If the question starts with a question word, nothing else is needed, there are no question starters or auxiliary words:
When do you go? =
Kada ideš?
(literally when you go)
We also commonly omit the subject pronoun, in this case you – ti, so only two words are needed:
Kada ideš?
(when you go)
Common question words are:
1) what – šta
What are you doing? =
Šta radiš?
2) which –
koji (masculine)
koja (feminine)
koje (neuter)
What ice cream do you want? =
Koji sladoled želiš?
3) who – ko
Who is your friend? = Ko je tvoj prijatelj?
4) whom – koga
Used when referring to the object of a verb or preposition.
It has to be a direct object though, akuzativ.
Whom do you love? = Koga voliš?
5) whose –
čiji (masculine)
čija (feminine)
čije (neuter)
Whose phone is this? =
Čiji je ovo telefon?
6) where – gde
Where are you? = Gde si?
7) when – kada
When is the lesson? = Kada je lekcija?
8) why – zašto
Why are you crying? = Zašto plačeš?
9) how – kako
How do you do that? = Kako to radiš?
10) how much/many – koliko
How many books do you have? =
Koliko knjiga imaš?
11) how often – koliko često
How often do you study? =
Koliko često učiš?
12) how long –
koliko dug (masculine)
koliko duga (feminine)
koliko dugo (for neuter nouns or verbs – the duration of an action)
How long is the movie? =
Koliko je dug film?
13) how far – koliko daleko
How far is the park? =
Koliko je daleko park?
14) how old –
koliko star (masculine)
koliko stara (feminine)
koliko staro (neuter)
How old is this story? =
Koliko je stara ova priča?
15) how come – kako to, otkud
How come you eat chocolate? =
Kako to da jedeš čokoladu?
16) what time – u koliko sati
What time is the concert? =
U koliko sati je koncert?
17) what kind (of) –
kakav (masculine)
kakva (feminine)
kakvo (neuter)
What kind of magic is this? =
Kakva je ovo magija?
18) what color – koje boje
What color is your car? =
Koje boje je tvoj auto?
19) what size – koje veličine
What size is the shirt? =
Koje veličine je košulja?
20) where from – odakle
Where is the food from? =
Odakle je hrana?
Now let’s start with forming questions.
1) da li / da l’
The first way to form a question is with: da li.
It’s just a question starter, it doesn’t mean anything and it doesn’t translate to anything in English, or any other languages.
It works in any situation: do/does, am/is/are, did, would, could, should, will, for the present, future, past tenses, modal verbs, hypothetical, for any question except when we
have question words. We don’t need it then.
People sometimes use the contracted form da l’ instead of da li.
Do you go to the park on the weekends? =
Da li ideš u park vikendom?
Does he work here? =
Da li radi ovde?
Are you studying Bosnian? =
Da li učiš bosanski?
Did you go to school? =
Da li si išao/išla u školu?
Will you go to school? =
Da li ćeš ići u školu?
Should you go to school? =
Da li treba da ideš u školu?
Can you go to school? =
Da li možeš da ideš u školu?
2) je l’
Another way of forming questions is using je l’ – it’s the same as da li, there is no difference.
Do you go to the park on the weekends? =
Je l’ ideš u park vikendom?
Does he work here? =
Je l’ radi ovde?
Are you studying Bosnian? =
Je l’ učiš bosanski?
Did you go to school? =
Je l’ si išao/išla u školu?
Will you go to school? =
Je l’ ćeš ići u školu?
Should you go to school? =
Je l’ treba da ideš u školu?
Can you go to school? =
Je l’ možeš da ideš u školu?
It’s interesting that we only use the contracted form je l’.
The full version je li is used in Croatian.
3) verb + li
This type of question is only possible in the present tense.
Are you studying? =
Učiš li?
Do you like ice cream? =
Voliš li sladoled?
4) verb ‘to be’ + li
This type of question is used for the past tense and for the adjectives – because both of these forms require the verb to be.
Did you study? =
Jesi li učio/učila?
Did they come? =
Jesu li došli?
Am I fast? =
Jesam li brz?
Is he hungry? =
Je li gladan?
It’s interesting that we use the short answer forms for all the other persons except for the third person singular, as shown above.
We don’t use jeste for he, she, it – we use je when forming a question.
Short answers
For many questions, the short answers are just yes or no (da / ne).
For example, all the questions in the present tense.
Do you go to school? =
Da li ideš u školu?
Yes, I do. = Da.
Are we studying? =
Da li učimo?
No, we’re not. = Ne.
Would you visit the museum? =
Da li bi posetio/posetila muzej?
Yes, I would. = Da.
Can they run? =
Mogu li da trče?
No, they can’t. = Ne.
Any present tense question, modal verb questions, hypothetical, we have da or ne answers.
Yes, I do. = Da.
Yes, you do. = Da.
Yes, he/she does. = Da.
Yes, we do. = Da.
Yes, you do. (plural) = Da.
Yes, they do. = Da.
No, I don’t. = Ne.
No, you don’t. = Ne.
No, he/she doesn’t. = Ne.
No, we don’t. = Ne.
No, you don’t. (plural) = Ne.
No, they don’t. = Ne.
Has she been studying Serbian? =
Da li uči srpski?
Yes, she has. = Da.
Could they help me? =
Da li bi mogli da mi pomognu?
No, they couldn’t. = Ne.
For two types of questions, we have the actual Yes, I am or No, I’m not answers.
The first category is what I call the adjective questions:
Are you hungry? =
Da li si gladan/gladna?
Yes, I am. = Jesam.
The second category is the past tense.
The past tense in our language is always formed with the auxiliary verb which is
verb to be – hence:
Yes, I am has absolutely the same meaning as Yes, I did.
Did he go to school? =
Da li je išao u školu?
No, he didn’t. = Nije.
Yes, I am. = Jesam. = Yes, I did.
Yes, you are. = Jesi. = Yes, you did.
Yes, he/she is. = Jeste. = Yes, he/she did.
Yes, we are. = Jesmo. = Yes, we did.
Yes, you are. (plural) = Jeste. = Yes, you did. (pl)
Yes, they are. = Jesu. = Yes, they did.
No, I’m not. = Nisam. = No, I didn’t.
No, you’re not. = Nisi. = No, you didn’t.
No, he/she isn’t. = Nije. = No, he/she didn’t.
No, we’re not. = Nismo. = No, we didn’t.
No, you’re not. (plural) = Niste. = No, you didn’t. (pl)
No, they’re not. = Nisu. = No, they didn’t.
There is an alternative way of answering questions that we often use.
We just use the verb.
Are you eating? =
Da li jedeš?
Yes, I am. = Jedem.
Can we go outside? =
Možemo li da idemo napolje?
Yes, you can. = Možete.
Do they know Serbian? =
Da li znaju srpski?
Yes, they do. = Znaju.
And the short answers for the future tense – we actually use the verb I want.
Will you go to school? =
Da li ćeš ići u školu?
Yes, I will. = Hoću.
Will she study? =
Da li će učiti?
No, she won’t. = Neće.
Will they eat? =
Da li će jesti?
Yes, they will. = Hoće.
Yes, I will. = Hoću.
Yes, you will. = Hoćeš.
Yes, he/she will. = Hoće.
Yes, we will. = Hoćemo.
Yes, you will. (plural) = Hoćete.
Yes, they will. = Hoće.
No, I won’t. = Neću.
No, you won’t. = Nećeš.
No, he/she won’t. = Neće.
No, we won’t. = Nećemo.
No, you won’t. (plural). = Nećete.
No, they won’t. = Neće.
Let’s practice – I’ll give you the sentence in English and wait for 5 seconds for you to try to
translate it before I say it in Serbian.
1) What are you watching?
Šta gledaš?
2) Whom do you love?
Koga voliš?
3) How old is this food?
Koliko je stara ova hrana?
4) What size is the T-shirt?
Koje veličine je majica?
5) What kind of book is this?
Kakva je ovo knjiga?
6) Do you go to the store on the weekends?
Yes, I do.
Da li ideš u prodavnicu vikendom? -Da.
7) Should you go to school?
Yes, I should.
Da li treba da ideš u školu?
Da.
8) Are we studying?
No, we’re not.
Da li učimo?
Ne.
9) Would you visit the city?
Yes, I would.
Da li bi posetio/posetila grad?
Da.
10) Will he go home?
Yes, he will.
Da li će ići kući?
Hoće.