Question 1

Why do we use bismo here instead of just bi?

Accepted Answer

To form the conditional mood (would do something), you need a helper verb. While bi is used for he/she/it and they, the "we" form is always bismo. Similarly, the "you plural" form is biste.

Question 2

If I leave out the pronoun mi (we), how does the sentence change?

Accepted Answer

If you drop mi, the helper word bismo cannot start the sentence because it is a "clitic" (a weak word that must sit in the second position of a sentence). The main verb would have to move to the front to support it, making the sentence: Zamislili bismo čudo u ovom svijetu.

Question 3

Why does the verb zamislili end in -li?

Accepted Answer

The conditional mood is made by combining the helper word (bismo) with the "l-participle" (the same past-tense verb form you already know). Because "we" (mi) is plural, you use the plural ending -li (which is used for mixed groups or all-male groups). If "we" referred to a group of only women, it would be zamislile.

Question 4

Is the word čudo (miracle) in the nominative case here?

Accepted Answer

No, it is in the accusative case because it is the direct object—it's the thing being imagined. However, because čudo is a neuter noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary (nominative) form.

Question 5

What case is u ovom svijetu, and why?

Accepted Answer

It is in the locative case. The preposition u takes the locative case when talking about a static location (answering "where?", as in "in this world"). The masculine noun svijet (world) changes to svijetu, and the word for "this" (ovaj) matches it by changing to ovom.

Mi bismo zamislili čudo u ovom svijetu.

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