Word
Gdje je ona jučer radila?
Meaning
Where did she work yesterday?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Gdje je ona jučer radila?
Why does the word for "worked" end in "-a" (radila)?
In the Croatian past tense, the main verb changes its ending based on the gender of the subject. Because ona (she) is feminine, the l-participle for the verb raditi (to work) gets the feminine singular ending -la, making it radila. If the subject were male, it would be radio.
Why is the word je (is) used when talking about yesterday?
The Croatian past tense is made of two parts: a helper verb and the main action verb. The helper verb is just the present tense of "to be". So, while English uses "did" for questions in the past, Croatian literally asks "Where is she yesterday worked?".
Why does je come right after Gdje instead of next to the verb?
Short helper verbs like je are called clitics. They are weak words that must go in the second position in a sentence. Since the question word Gdje takes the first position, je is forced to go right after it, separating it from the main verb radila.
Can I leave out the word ona (she)?
Yes! In Croatian, you can often drop the subject pronoun. If you say Gdje je jučer radila?, people will still know you are talking about a female because of the feminine -la ending on the verb radila.