Masc. sg. -o
Fem. sg. - la
Neut. sg. -lo
Masc. pl. -li
Fem. pl. - le
Neut. pl. -la
_______________ (she arrived) je sama sa ljetom
_______________ (she approached) i rekla hello
Pogledi su nam ________________ (telling) više od riječi
K’o da se zvijezda sa neba
____________________ (came down) meni na dlan
______________ (I knew) sam samo o njoj da zove se Džuli
Džuli, Džuli
A _______________ (I wanted) sam da dugo traje taj san
Pamtim još dodir te ruke
Lice i njen pogled blag
Odmah je jasno mi _______________ (it was) da ludo je volim
Kao i sve ljetne snove
I nju mi je _________________ (took away) dan
_________________ (it remained) samo je sjećanje na jedan juli
Džuli, Džuli
A _____________ (I wanted) sam da dugo traje taj san
Pitam u noćima nebo
Da li je to __________ (it was) san
Ili je stvarno te noći me ______________ (she was kissing) Džuli
Prošetam sam pored mora
Dočekam tako i dan
Zamolim more da vrati mi Džuli i juli
Džuli, o… Džuli, o…
Džuli, o… Džuli
A htio sam da dugo traje taj san
O moja Džuli
Answer key and the English translation
The verb carries the speaker’s gender
Serbian past tense combines a present form of biti with the active past participle: sam znao or sam znala. The participle agrees with the subject, which is why the same past action can reveal whether the speaker is male or female. In the song, a male singer uses forms such as htio sam.
The final infinitive letters do not always disappear mechanically. With many verbs in -ati, the pattern is easy: pevati → pevao, pevala. Other verbs change their stem: doći → došao, došla; reći → rekao, rekla; uzeti → uzeo, uzela. Learn these frequent irregular forms as pairs.
Agreement chart for a remembered summer
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Devojka je prišla obali pred zalazak sunca. | Девојка је пришла обали пред залазак сунца. | The girl approached the shore before sunset. |
| Mladić je dugo pamtio njihov prvi razgovor. | Младић је дуго памтио њихов први разговор. | The young man remembered their first conversation for a long time. |
| More je sakrilo tragove u pesku. | Море је сакрило трагове у песку. | The sea hid the footprints in the sand. |
| Prijatelji su pevali do svitanja. | Пријатељи су певали до свитања. | The friends sang until dawn. |
| Letnje noći su ostale u sećanju. | Летње ноћи су остале у сећању. | The summer nights remained in their memory. |
From infinitive to six possible endings
| Subject | Example with pevati | Why |
|---|---|---|
| on | pevao | masculine singular |
| ona | pevala | feminine singular |
| ono | pevalo | neuter singular |
| oni | pevali | masculine/mixed plural |
| one | pevale | feminine plural |
| ona | pevala | neuter plural |
When you fill the song’s gaps, first locate the subject. Only then choose the participle. The nearby auxiliary — sam, je, su — tells you person and number, while the participle supplies gender.
Echoes from one July evening
- Complete for a woman: Ja sam ______ do mora. (doći)
- Complete for a man: On je ______ istinu. (reći)
- Change to feminine plural: Oni su pevali.
- Choose: More je ostao / ostalo mirno.
- Write in Cyrillic: Znala sam da će leto brzo proći.
Forms left in the sand
- došla
- rekao
- One su pevale. / Оне су певале.
- More je ostalo mirno.
- Знала сам да ће лето брзо проћи.
Sing once as her, once as him
Take a simple line such as Ja sam pevao. Sing it first with a male ending, then change the imagined speaker and sing Ja sam pevala. Continue with došao/došla and znao/znala. The melody helps the contrasting endings stay in your memory.
A past participle is not an isolated vocabulary item: it always tells you something about the person or group behind the action.
Marina Petrović