Breakdown of Vidjeli smo pauka i odjednom smo se uplašili.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
i
and (additive)
vidjeti
to see
pauk
spider
odjednom
suddenly
uplašiti se
to get scared
Questions & Answers about Vidjeli smo pauka i odjednom smo se uplašili.
Why is the order smo se instead of se smo?
In Croatian, clitics (short, unstressed words) must follow a strict order when they appear together. Auxiliary verbs like smo always take priority and come before the reflexive pronoun se.
Why do the clitics smo se come right after odjednom?
Clitics generally go in the second position of a clause. The conjunction i does not count as the first position. Therefore, odjednom acts as the first position of the second clause, and the clitics smo se tuck in right behind it.
Why is spider written as pauka instead of pauk?
The spider is the direct object, so it takes the accusative case. Because pauk is a masculine noun that is a living creature, we must add an -a to the end in the accusative case.
What is the word se doing in the second half of the sentence?
The dictionary form of the verb is uplašiti se, which is reflexive. The se shows that the action reflects back on the subject, literally meaning to scare oneself. In English, we naturally translate this as got scared.
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