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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (7)
VERBS (Cont.)
We have more than one form of the past tense, but in daily communication people tend to use just one form composed of the verb “to be” and the past participle of the proper verb.
You remember: Ja sam, ti si, om,ona,ono je, mi smo, vi/Vi ste, oni,one,ona su
means: I am, you are, he,she,it is, we are, you are, they are.
The past participle in English remains unchanged regardless of the person who it concerns. I played or you played, I have played or you have played doesn’t affect the participle “played”.
We make it much more complicated. Each gender demands a different ending:
Masc. Ja sam igra-o, ti si igra-o, on je igra-o, mi smo igra-li, vi ste igra-li, oni su igra-li
Fem. Ja sam igra-la, ti si …, ona je …, mi smo igra-le, vi ste …, one su …
Neut. Ja sam igra-lo, ti si …, ono je …, mi smo igra-la, vi ste …, ona su …
The rule is that the verb ending „ti“ is replaced by the participle ending:
Govori-ti / govori-o, govori-la, govori-lo … (spoken)
Uèi-ti / uèi-o, uèi-la, uèi-lo … (learned)
Vole-ti / vole-o, vole-la, vole-lo … (loved)
Volje-ti / voli-o, voli-la, voli-lo … (loved)
Ima-ti / ima-o, ima-la, ima-lo … (had)
The verb “biti” (to be) constructs its participle the same way:
Bi-ti / ja sam bi-o, ti si …, on je …, mi smo bi-li, vi ste …, oni su ... (be, been)
ja sam bi-la, ti si ...
ja sam bi-lo, ti si ...
But nothing is quite simple in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian. If the verb ends in –sti or in –æi, the past participle is always irregular:
I-æi / ja sam i-šao, ti si i-šao, on je i-šao, mi smo i-šli, vi ste i-šli, oni su i-šli (go, gone)
ja sam i-šla, ti si …, ona je …, mi smo i-šle, vi ste ..., one su ...
ja sam i-šlo, ti si …, ono je …, mi smo išla, vi ste ..., ona su ...
Se-sti / ja sam se-o, ti si …, on je …, mi smo seli, vi ste …, oni su … (sit, sat)
ja sam se-la, ti si ..., ona je ..., mi smo sele, vi ste ..., one su ...
ja sam se-lo, ti si ..., ono je ..., mi smo sela, vi ste ..., ona su ...
Sje-sti / ja sam sje-o, ti si ... etc.
(In Croatia and Bosnia they insert an „j“ or „ij“ in front of „e“).
We omit usually the personal pronoun (ja, ti, on,ona,ono, mi, vi/Vi, oni,one,ona) unless it is necessary to declare precisely who is or who was doing something. This brings for the learner of our language additional problem of the word order:
Instead of “Ja sam video, ti si video, …” we say “video sam, video si, video je…”
For the negative form of the past tense we take the negative form of the verb to be and the past participle. The omission of the pronoun in the negative form doesn’t affect the word order:
Ja nisam leteo / nisam leteo, ti nisi leteo / nisi leteo, on nije leteo / nije leteo
Ti nisi letela / nisi letela etc.
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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