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Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna.

Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna.
Yesterday I was sad, but today I am happy.

Breakdown of Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna.

biti
to be
danas
today
ali
but
jučer
yesterday
sretan
happy
tužan
sad
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Questions & Answers about Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna.

Why is it bila and not bio?

In Croatian, past tense forms agree with the gender of the subject.

  • bila = feminine singular (used if the speaker is a woman)
  • bio = masculine singular (used if the speaker is a man)

So:

  • A woman: Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna.
  • A man: Jučer sam bio tužan, ali danas sam sretan.
Why do we need sam in Jučer sam bila tužna?

Sam is the auxiliary verb “I am” / “I was” (1st person singular of biti = “to be”) used to form the past tense.

Structure of Croatian past tense:

  • subject (often omitted) + auxiliary (sam/si/je/smo/ste/su) + past participle

So here:

  • (ja) sam bila = “I was” (feminine speaker)

You cannot say just Jučer bila tužna; that is ungrammatical in standard Croatian because the auxiliary is missing.

Can I say bila sam tužna instead of sam bila tužna?

Yes, both are grammatically correct:

  • Jučer sam bila tužna.
  • Jučer bila sam tužna.

However:

  • In neutral everyday speech, Jučer sam bila tužna (auxiliary in second position) is more natural.
  • Bila sam jučer tužna is also possible, with a slightly different emphasis (emphasizing bila / the fact of being sad).

The auxiliary sam is a clitic and tends to appear in the second position in the clause, so Jučer sam bila tužna is the most typical order.

Why are tužna and sretna ending in -a?

The adjectives tužna (“sad”) and sretna (“happy”) agree with the subject in:

  • gender
  • number
  • case

Here the subject is ja (“I”), and we’re assuming a female speaker:

  • feminine
  • singular
  • nominative (subject / predicate)

So the adjectives must be feminine singular nominative:

  • masculine: tužan, sretan
  • feminine: tužna, sretna

That’s why the sentence is:

  • Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna. (female speaker)
  • Jučer sam bio tužan, ali danas sam sretan. (male speaker)
Why is there a comma before ali?

In Croatian, you normally put a comma before coordinating conjunctions such as:

  • ali (but)
  • i (and) – in some cases
  • pa, nego, etc.

Here we have two clauses:

  1. Jučer sam bila tužna
  2. danas sam sretna

They are joined by ali, so a comma is required:

  • Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna.
Why is there no “ja” (“I”) in the sentence?

Croatian is a pro-drop (null-subject) language, so the subject pronoun is usually omitted when it’s clear from the verb form.

  • sam already shows 1st person singular (“I am / I was”)
  • So ja is not necessary:
    • (Ja) sam bila tužna. → normally you just say Sam bila tužna or more naturally Jučer sam bila tužna.

You only say ja when you want to emphasize the subject:

  • Ja sam bila tužna, ali ti nisi. – I was sad, but you weren’t.
Why is it past tense in the first part and present tense in the second?

Because you’re talking about two different time frames:

  • Jučer sam bila tužna – “Yesterday I was sad.” → past tense (prior state)
  • ali danas sam sretna – “but today I am happy.” → present tense (current state)

Croatian normally uses past and present here in the same way English does.

Can I leave out jučer or danas?

Grammatically, yes, but you change what is understood from context.

  • Sam bila tužna, ali sam sretna. – technically grammatical, but sounds incomplete without any time reference.
  • More natural reductions:
    • Jučer sam bila tužna, ali sam danas sretna.
    • Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna. (original)
    • Jučer sam bila tužna, a danas sretna. (you can drop sam in the second clause in informal speech; sam is then “understood”.)

In everyday conversation, context often makes time words droppable, but in isolation the original sentence is clearer.

Could I say sad instead of danas?

Yes, but the meaning is slightly different:

  • danas = “today” (the whole day as a time frame)
  • sad (or sada) = “now” (this very moment)

So:

  • Jučer sam bila tužna, ali danas sam sretna.
    – I was sad yesterday, but I’m happy today (in general).
  • Jučer sam bila tužna, ali sad sam sretna.
    – I was sad yesterday, but I’m happy now (at this moment).

Both are natural; choose based on what you want to emphasize.

Is the word order “Ali danas sam sretna” fixed?

The basic word order is flexible, but not completely free. Some common variants:

  • Ali danas sam sretna. – neutral, natural
  • Ali sam danas sretna. – also possible; slightly shifts emphasis to sam danas
  • Ali danas sretna sam. – unusual / poetic.

In standard speech, keeping sam in the second position of the clause is the safest and most natural:

  • Ali danas sam sretna.
How would the sentence look if a man is speaking?

You must change the past participle and the adjectives to masculine:

  • Jučer sam bio tužan, ali danas sam sretan.

Changes:

  • bila → bio (past participle, masculine)
  • tužna → tužan (adjective, masculine)
  • sretna → sretan (adjective, masculine)
Why doesn’t sretna take any special ending for “today” or “yesterday”?

Adjectives like tužna and sretna here are in the predicate position with the verb biti (“to be”) and agree only with the subject, not with the time word:

  • Subject: (ja) → feminine, singular, nominative
  • Adjective: tužna / sretna → feminine, singular, nominative

Words like jučer and danas are adverbs of time, and they don’t affect the case or form of the adjectives. So the adjective stays the same regardless of whether you say:

  • Jučer sam bila tužna.
  • Danas sam tužna.
  • Ponekad sam tužna.