Breakdown of Jučer nismo kupili novu budilicu.
nov
new
nisam
am not (nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu)
kupiti
to buy (perfective)
jučer
yesterday
budilica
alarm clock
Questions & Answers about Jučer nismo kupili novu budilicu.
How do we form "we didn't buy" in this sentence?
To make the past tense negative, you combine the negative form of the verb "to be" with the main action word (the l-participle). Instead of smo kupili (we bought), you use nismo (we are not) to make it nismo kupili (we didn't buy). Notice that we don't just put ne in front of the past tense; we have to use these special negative helper verbs.
Why does kupili end in -i?
The -i ending on the action word tells us the subject is plural. It is technically the masculine plural form, but Croatian uses it as the default for any mixed group of men and women. If a group of only women were speaking, they would say nismo kupile.
Where is the word for "we" in this sentence?
You don't need to say the pronoun mi (we) because the helper verb nismo already means "we are not". Croatian usually drops subject pronouns unless you want to emphasize exactly who did something.
Why is it novu budilicu instead of nova budilica?
Because the alarm clock is the direct object receiving the action of being bought, it needs to be in the accusative case. The dictionary forms nova (new) and budilica (alarm clock) are feminine words ending in -a. In the accusative case, that -a ending changes to -u.
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