Breakdown of Učitelj je jutros šetao.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
učitelj
teacher
šetati
to walk
jutros
this morning
Questions & Answers about Učitelj je jutros šetao.
Why does the verb šetao end in -o if this lesson is about the l-participle?
In Croatian, the masculine singular form of the past tense originally ended in -l (and still does for plurals, like šetali). However, over time, an -l at the very end of a word changed into an -o. For a masculine subject like učitelj, you take the infinitive šetati, drop the -ti, and add -o to get šetao.
What is je doing in this sentence?
Why is je placed right after Učitelj instead of next to šetao?
The word je is an enclitic, which is a weak word that strictly demands the second position in a sentence. It jumps right after the first word (Učitelj), naturally separating itself from the main verb (šetao) at the end of the sentence.
How does the word jutros differ from just saying jutro?
The word jutro is the noun for morning. Adding the -s to the end turns it into an adverb meaning specifically this morning. You will see this same -s ending in words like večeras (this evening) or danas (today).