Breakdown of Mi smo sinoć pjevali pjesme na zabavi.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
mi
we
pjevati
to sing
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
zabava
party
sinoć
last night
pjesma
song
Questions & Answers about Mi smo sinoć pjevali pjesme na zabavi.
Why does the verb end in -li in pjevali?
In the past tense, the main verb changes to match the subject. Because the subject is mi (we), we need a plural ending. The -li ending is used for a group of males or a mixed group of males and females. If the group saying this was entirely female, they would use the feminine plural ending and say Mi smo sinoć pjevale.
What is smo doing in this sentence?
The Croatian past tense is built using two pieces: a helper verb and the main verb. smo is the helper verb for mi (we). Even though we just say 'sang' in English, Croatian requires a form of the verb 'to be' (biti) alongside the main verb to create the past tense.
Why is the word for songs pjesme instead of pjesma?
pjesma (song) is a feminine noun. Here, it is plural and the direct object of the sentence (the thing being sung). For feminine nouns ending in -a, the plural direct object (accusative case) takes an -e ending, giving us pjesme.
Why does zabava change to zabavi?
The word zabava (party) is a location here. When you use the preposition na (at/on) to describe where something happens, the noun must be in the locative case. For most feminine nouns, this means changing the final -a to -i.
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