Quote Originally Posted by Failte View Post
1) is there any real difference in meaning or intent between у него есть учебник? and у него ли учебник? The english translation provided implies that one means "Has he a textbook" and the other "Has he the textbook", but my understanding was that there was no real way to differentiate articles and that the two questions are functionally the same. I'm apparently not really clear on when the particle ли is really needed, and when есть is used/omitted. I assume that things will be clearer as I progress.
1. у него есть учебник?
2. у него ли учебник?

In my opinion (native Russian speaker) this is two different sentences.
In 1. you ask: Has he a textbook? indeed. You don't know: is there a textbook? yes or not..
In 2. you know that a textbook is. But you don't know where? Maybe he has this one maybe not.