Re: Question about Questions

> Frank George Valoczy wrote:
> >whereas Serbian
> >
> >Da li govoris srpski? (Do you speak Serbian)
> >
> >in which the "da li" is the "interrogative particle"
> >
> Years ago, in a "handy phrasebook", I saw:  govorite vi li srpska?  (I may
> be mis-remembering srpska/srpski)... is that a polite (2nd pl?) form... or
> just wrong/garbled? (Or maybe a little archaic??).
>
Yes, what I wrote is 2nd person singular. What you wrote is a bit odd, as
one would generally omit the "vi" (2p pl prn) and be left with "govorite
li srpski", which while grammatical, to a Serb's ear would sound Croatian,
just as "da li govorite srpski" (here you could more plausibly use the
"vi" than in the other construction), would sound Serbian to a Croat's
ear.

Odd situation - more or less the same language, but sentence structure and
a few different words makes the difference... =\