Breakdown of Žena je uzdahnula i počela drhtati kao da se boji.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
žena
woman
i
and (additive)
početi
to begin
bojati se
to be afraid
kao
like, as
da
that (conjunction)
drhtati
to tremble
uzdahnuti
to sigh
Questions & Answers about Žena je uzdahnula i počela drhtati kao da se boji.
Why do we use the present tense se boji if the rest of the sentence is in the past tense (je uzdahnula i počela)?
After kao da (as if), you use a tense based on its relationship to the main action. Because her seeming afraid happens at the exact same time as her sighing and trembling, Croatian uses the present tense here. If you used the past tense (kao da se bojala), it would mean she trembled as if she had been afraid at some earlier point before she sighed.
Why is there no je after počela? Shouldn't it be je počela?
When connecting two past-tense verbs with i (and) that share the exact same subject, Croatian avoids repeating the auxiliary verb je. The je from je uzdahnula automatically carries over to počela.
Is drhtati (to tremble) imperfective or perfective here, and why?
It is imperfective. After verbs that describe the phase of an action like starting (početi), finishing (završiti), or continuing (nastaviti), you must use an imperfective infinitive. This is because the action of trembling is an ongoing process that she just initiated.
Why is the word se needed in se boji?
The verb for 'to be afraid' in Croatian is bojati se. It is an inherently reflexive verb, meaning the se is a permanent, required part of the dictionary form. The se must always be included when conjugating it.
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