Breakdown of U mladosti smo bili jako sretni.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
sretan
happy
u
in, into
jako
very, strongly (colloquial)
Questions & Answers about U mladosti smo bili jako sretni.
Why does mladosti end in -i? What is its dictionary form?
The dictionary form is mladost (youth). It is a feminine noun that ends in a consonant, meaning it belongs to the i-declension group. Because it follows the preposition u to express a timeframe ("in youth"), it must be in the Locative case. For these feminine i-declension nouns, the Locative singular ending is always -i.
How can I tell that a consonant-ending noun like mladost is feminine?
A very reliable rule of thumb is that nouns ending in the suffix -ost (like mladost for youth, radost for joy, or starost for old age) are abstract nouns. These are almost exclusively feminine i-declension nouns.
Why is smo placed after mladosti instead of after the first word U?
smo is an enclitic (a weak verb without its own stress) and must take the second position in a sentence. However, the entire prepositional phrase U mladosti acts as a single, inseparable block of information. Therefore, it occupies the first position together, and smo tucks in right after it.
Why do we use the masculine plural forms bili and sretni?