Breakdown of Da je on to učinio, taj postupak bio bi postao koban.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
on
he
to
that
učiniti
to do
taj
that (masculine)
postati
to become
da
if (in counterfactual conditionals)
postupak
action
koban
fatal
Questions & Answers about Da je on to učinio, taj postupak bio bi postao koban.
Why do we use the perfect tense (je učinio) after da instead of a conditional form?
In Croatian, to express a past counterfactual condition ("If he had done..."), you start the clause with da followed by the standard perfect tense (je učinio). The conditional form is reserved exclusively for the main clause describing the result.
How exactly is the past conditional bio bi postao constructed in this sentence?
The past conditional (Kondicional prošli) expresses what "would have" happened. It is formed by combining three elements: the active past participle of biti (here, bio), the conditional clitic (bi), and the active past participle of the main verb (here, postao).
Could the word order in the main clause be different, for example, placing bi earlier?
Yes. Because bi is an enclitic (a grammar word that prefers the second position in a clause), it needs to follow a stressed word or phrase. Here it smoothly follows the participle bio. However, you could also place it directly after the subject phrase: taj postupak bi bio postao koban.
Why is the adjective koban in the nominative case instead of the accusative?
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