Kad je sirena utihnula, vatrogaskinja je rekla da više nema dima.

to be

Breakdown of Kad je sirena utihnula, vatrogaskinja je rekla da više nema dima.

• imati: to have
• ne: not
• kad: when

Questions & Answers about Kad je sirena utihnula, vatrogaskinja je rekla da više nema dima.

Why is there je twice in the sentence?

Because Croatian is using the perfect tense in two different clauses:

• Kad je sirena utihnula = When the siren fell silent
• vatrogaskinja je rekla = the firefighter said

In Croatian, the perfect is usually formed with:

• a form of biti (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su)
• plus the past participle

So here:

• je utihnula
• je rekla

Each clause needs its own verb form.

What exactly is utihnula?

Utihnula is the past participle of utihnuti, which means to fall silent, to become quiet, or to stop sounding.

Here it agrees with sirena, which is a feminine noun, so the participle is feminine too:

• masculine: utihnuo
• feminine: utihnula
• neuter: utihnulo

So sirena je utihnula literally means the siren became silent.

Why is sirena treated as feminine?