# -li: chceš-li znovu hrát



## Tagarela

Split from here: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=920650

Ahoj,

How about the headline: *Vítej, Pavle Nedvěde! Chceš-li znovu hrát.

*Is it "_Welcome, Pavel Nedv__ěd! You want to play again._" ?

What is the function of the *-li *?

Děkuji pěkně! Na shledanou.:

ps: Good luck for Czech Republic in Eurocup!


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## Jana337

Verb + -li = pokud (if) + verb. 

He has yet to say his final word but if he decides to play again for the Czech team, he is welcome.


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,

Nice, it sounds like a very elegant structure to me.
Can I say that this *-li *thin is the same of the subjuntivo/conjuntivo in Portuguese and Spanish ?

Děkuji pěkně

Na shledanou.:


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## Jana337

No, you can't. The subjunctive in Romance languages has a wide scale of uses. We would use *-li *for some of them in Czech but I'd say that for just a few. Simply remember that *-li *is a variant for *if / whether* / *as long as *(the conditional meaning thereof). And also note that it is not very prominent in spoken Czech.


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,

Hum, I think I understand it now.



Jana337 said:


> And also note that it is not very prominent in spoken Czech.



In spoken Czech, could I use *Vítej, Pavle Nedvěde! Pokud chceš znovu hrát *?

Děkuji znovu za pomoc.

Na shledanou.:


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## Jana337

Yes, you could. But it's not like *-li* is a tabu in spoken Czech. Just not very common. On the other hand, it is very good for newspaper headlines because space is at a premium there and *-li* is shorter than *pokud*.


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