Breakdown of Još nismo stigli jer je gužva.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
nisam
am not (nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu)
još
yet, still / another, one more
jer
because
Questions & Answers about Još nismo stigli jer je gužva.
How is the negative past tense formed in nismo stigli?
To make the past tense negative, you use the negative present tense of the helper verb "to be" (biti) along with the l-participle (past action word) of your main verb. Here, nismo means "we are not" and stigli is the plural l-participle for "arrived". Together, nismo stigli creates the meaning "we didn't arrive" or "we haven't arrived".
Doesn't još usually mean "still" or "more"? Why is it translated as "yet" here?
You are right! In positive sentences, još often means "still" or "more". However, when it is placed in a negative sentence (like one using nismo), još translates to "yet". So, još nismo simply means "we haven't yet".
Why isn't the word for "we" (mi) included before the verb?
In Croatian, you usually drop the subject pronouns (like I, you, we) because the verb form already tells you who is doing the action. The word nismo specifically means "we are not", so adding mi is unnecessary unless you really want to emphasize that we (and not someone else) haven't arrived.
Why does stigli end with an -i?