Breakdown of Bili bismo promislili i brzo postupili.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
i
and (additive)
brzo
quickly
promisliti
to think through
postupiti
to act (take action, proceed)
Questions & Answers about Bili bismo promislili i brzo postupili.
Why does this sentence use two l-participles, bili and promislili?
The past conditional is formed by combining the standard conditional of the verb biti (bili bismo) with the l-participle of the main verb (promislili). Because the conditional of biti itself uses an l-participle (bili), you end up with two l-participles in the same phrase.
Why does the auxiliary word bismo come between bili and promislili?
The word bismo is an enclitic, meaning it is a short, unstressed word that must take the second grammatical position in a sentence. Since Bili takes the first position here, bismo naturally falls right after it, pushing the main verb promislili to the third spot.
Why isn't bili bismo repeated before the second verb, postupili?
When connecting two past conditional verbs with i (and), you only need to use the auxiliary components (bili bismo) once. They automatically carry over to the second verb (postupili), just as you would say 'we would have thought and acted' in English instead of repeating 'would have'.
What would this sentence look like if a group of women were speaking?
If a group consisting only of women were speaking, all three l-participles would need to change to their feminine plural forms, which end in -e. The sentence would become: Bile bismo promislile i brzo postupile.
Learn Bili bismo promislili i brzo postupili and more in Croatian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free