The auxiliary identifies the person; the ending sketches the group
Affirmative forms separate the short auxiliary from the participle: sam bio or bila, si bio or bila, je bio, bila or bilo, smo bili or bile, ste bili or bile, and su bili, bile or bila. The participle carries gender and number, while the auxiliary locates the grammatical person.
In negative sentences, nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste and nisu replace the affirmative auxiliaries: Nismo bili tamo. For a neutral yes–no question, begin with da li and retain the auxiliary: Da li su deca bila umorna? Short replies repeat the verbal information through Jesu or Nisu.
Negation fuses what affirmation keeps apart
| Latinica | Ћирилица | English |
|---|---|---|
| Pre dve zime nisam bila u planinskom domu. | Пре две зиме нисам била у планинском дому. | Two winters ago, I was not at the mountain lodge. |
| Da li si bio budan kada je počela oluja? | Да ли си био будан када је почела олуја? | Were you awake when the storm began? |
| Mače je bilo sakriveno iza zavese. | Маче је било сакривено иза завесе. | The kitten was hidden behind the curtain. |
| Nas trojica smo bili jedini putnici u autobusu. | Нас тројица смо били једини путници у аутобусу. | The three of us were the only passengers on the bus. |
| Učenice nisu bile nervozne pre nastupa. | Ученице нису биле нервозне пре наступа. | The female students were not nervous before the performance. |
Interrogate yesterday with three small words
Draw two columns headed jeste and nije. Pause at five moments in the video, describe each image in one column, then transform every statement into a da li question for a partner to answer briefly.
- Complete: Mi ______ bili spremni. (negative)
- Write Mače je bilo sakriveno in Cyrillic.
- Short positive reply to Da li su bili tamo?
- Which word carries feminine plural agreement?
- Change to a question: Ona je bila kod bake.
A final answer changes from nisam to nismo
- nismo
- Маче је било сакривено
- Jesu.
- bile
- Da li je ona bila kod bake?
Choose one statement and successively change the subject from ja to mi and then to one neuter plural noun. Listen to every auxiliary and participle change, not only the final ending.
Marina Petrović