Breakdown of Upisala sam tečaj hrvatskog jezika, jer sam još početnica.
biti
to be
hrvatski
Croatian
jer
because
upisati
to enroll
Questions & Answers about Upisala sam tečaj hrvatskog jezika, jer sam još početnica.
Why does the verb end in -la in upisala sam?
The -la ending shows that the speaker is female and that the verb is in the past tense.
Croatian past tense is formed with:
- the auxiliary biti (to be) in the present (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su)
- plus a past participle that agrees in gender and number with the subject.
For the verb upisati (to enroll), the past participles are:
- upisao – masculine singular (I [male], he)
- upisala – feminine singular (I [female], she)
- upisali – masculine/mixed plural
- upisale – feminine plural
So upisala sam tells us: I (female) enrolled.
Why is there no word for “I” (no ja) in the Croatian sentence?
Croatian usually drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.
The combination upisala sam already tells us:
- person: 1st person singular (because of sam)
- gender and number: feminine singular (because of upisala)
So ja (I) would be optional and only used for emphasis, for example:
- Ja sam upisala tečaj hrvatskog jezika… – I enrolled… (emphasizing I as opposed to someone else)