Grammatikли

The very useful little word ли (if, whether) is a bit tricky because of how you need to structure the sentence when using it.

The general rule is: ли is placed directly after the word being questioned.

Indirect questions

This is where you will use ли every day: After a verb of knowing, asking, doubting or wondering. Look at the examples:

• Интере́сно, пра́вда ли э́то. (I wonder whether that’s true.)
• Он спроси́л, гото́в ли я. (He asked whether I was ready.)

To form such a sentence, start from English, for example "I don't know if I will be hungry.". A word-for-word translation could be Я не зна́ю, ли бу́ду я го́лоден. Now identify the focus word that the if relates to, which is will be (бу́ду), because that's the thing in question here. We simply put our ли right after that and the result is Я не зна́ю, бу́ду ли я го́лоден.

For the examples above, you can check the same:

• I wonder whether that’s true. → focus word is true → пра́вда ли
• He asked whether I was ready. → focus word is ready → гото́в ли

Two more examples:

• Спроси́, есть ли у них биле́ты. (Ask whether they have tickets.)
• Я не по́мню, закры́л ли я дверь. (I don’t remember whether I locked the door.)

For the resulting Russian sentences, note the comma before the clause.

Direct questions

Direct questions like Он придёт за́втра? (Will he come tomorrow?) would normally not use ли. But when you want to spotlight as “is it really X?”, you can use ли. Use it when the question is formal, reflective, rhetorical, or contrasted with another possibility.

Use the same rule: ли is placed directly after the word being questioned. Here is how you can use it to highlight different parts of the sentence:

In a neutral question, where you simply want to know “yes or no?”, the verb is the focus and leads: Зна́ешь ли ты его́? (Do you know him?). Move a different word forward only when you want to stress that part.

Where it does sound natural in speech is in a handful of polite set questions and in rhetorical or literary style:

• Не мо́жете ли вы мне помо́чь? (Could you possibly help me? — very polite)
• Не зна́ете ли вы, где метро́? (Might you know where the metro is?)
• Быть и́ли не быть — вот в чём вопро́с. (To be or not to be… — the literary register loves ли too.)

ли vs е́сли

English uses “if” for two unrelated ideas, but Russian has two separate words, so be careful to pick the correct one.

So е́сли has the sense of "if this then that", whereas ли is used for "whether".

ли … и́ли

ли … и́ли …: “whether … or …”, offering two options inside an indirect question:

• Я не зна́ю, оста́ться ли мне и́ли уйти́. (I don’t know whether to stay or leave.)
• Реши́, купи́ть ли биле́ты сейча́с и́ли подожда́ть. (Decide whether to buy the tickets now or wait.)
• Он спроси́л, прие́ду ли я и́ли нет. (He asked whether I would come or not.)

то ли … то ли …

то ли … то ли …: “either … or …”, expressing that the speaker is unsure which:

• На у́лице то ли дождь, то ли снег. (Outside it’s either rain or snow.)
• Он то ли забы́л, то ли не захоте́л прийти́. (He either forgot or didn’t want to come — I’m not sure which.)
• Она́ то ли в о́фисе, то ли до́ма. (She’s either at the office or at home.)

Fixed expressions worth memorising

ли is welded into several very common phrases. Learn these as whole units:

ли vs ра́зве / неуже́ли

All three can turn a statement into a yes/no question, but they carry different attitudes. ли is the neutral one; the other two add emotion:

• ли — neutral “yes or no?”: Зна́ешь ли ты его́? (Do you know him?)
• ра́зве — surprise or doubt, “really?”: Ра́зве он уе́хал? (He left? Really?)
• неуже́ли — strong disbelief, “can it be?”: Неуже́ли э́то пра́вда? (Can it really be true?!)

Unlike ли, both ра́зве and неуже́ли do stand at the front of the clause.

Quick reference

For the conditional “if … then” with е́сли and бы, see the subjunctive & conditional article; for question words like кто, что, где see interrogative pronouns.