Breakdown of Činjenica da su bili zaboravili na sastanak jako nas zabrinjava.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
mi
we
sastanak
meeting
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
zaboraviti
to forget
jako
very, strongly (colloquial)
činjenica da
the fact that
zabrinjavati
to worry
Questions & Answers about Činjenica da su bili zaboravili na sastanak jako nas zabrinjava.
Why is the main verb zabrinjava in the singular form when the people who forgot the meeting are plural?
The subject of the verb zabrinjava is not 'they', but rather the singular noun činjenica (the fact). The entire clause Činjenica da su bili zaboravili na sastanak acts as a single, grammatically singular subject meaning 'the fact that they had forgotten'.
Could I use To što instead of Činjenica da at the beginning of the sentence?
What tense is su bili zaboravili, and why is it used instead of the standard past tense (su zaboravili)?
This is the Plusquamperfekt (past perfect) tense. It is formed with the perfect tense of biti (su bili) plus the active past participle (zaboravili). It is used to emphasize that an action happened further back in the past, before another past point. You will see this often in writing at the B2 level, though in casual speech, Croatians often just use the regular past tense (su zaboravili).
Why do we say zaboravili na sastanak instead of just using the direct object zaboravili sastanak?
In Croatian, the verb zaboraviti (to forget) is frequently paired with the preposition na followed by the accusative case to mean 'to forget about' something. Using zaboraviti na is the most natural way to express that you forgot an event, an obligation, or a person.
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