Perfekat = short form of biti + active participle (glagolski pridjev radni). On its own it covers English “I did”, “I have done” and “I was doing”.
Forming the participle: remove -ti and add -o, -la, -lo, -li, -le, -la.
| infinitive | m. | f. | note |
|---|---|---|---|
| čitati | čitao | čitala | regular |
| raditi | radio | radila | regular |
| vidjeti | vidio | vidjela | -jeti: m. in -io, f. in -jela (htio / htjela, volio / voljela) |
| ići, doći | išao, došao | išla, došla | verbs in -ći: present stem |
| moći, reći | mogao, rekao | mogla, rekla | same |
| jesti, uzeti, biti | jeo, uzeo, bio | jela, uzela, bila | short verbs |
Agreement with the subject (gender and number, always):
| masculine | feminine | neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | on je radio | ona je radila | dijete je radilo |
| plural | oni su radili | one su radile | sela su bila |
Mixed group → masculine plural: Ana i Marko su došli. A woman says Bila sam, a man Bio sam.
Word order: the auxiliary is in 2nd position, never first: Ja sam radio. / Radio sam. / Jučer sam radio. With se in the 3rd person, je disappears: On se vratio. — He came back. Negative: Nisam radio. Question: Jesi li radio? / Da li si radio?
The choice of aspect does the work of English “did” vs “was doing”: Pročitao sam knjigu (I read the book, finished it) — Čitao sam cijeli dan (I was reading all day).
Translate the words from your reading, review them as flashcards and practise with gap-fill sentences.
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