Breakdown of U desnom stupcu sam pogriješila prezent, ali sam u lijevoj rubrici točno napisala infinitiv.
biti
to be
u
in
ali
but
napisati
to write
Questions & Answers about U desnom stupcu sam pogriješila prezent, ali sam u lijevoj rubrici točno napisala infinitiv.
Why is there no separate word for I in this sentence?
Croatian often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb. Here sam shows first-person singular, so I is understood. The form pogriješila / napisala also shows that the speaker is female. If you wanted extra emphasis, you could say Ja sam..., but it is not necessary.
Why do we get pogriješila and napisala with -la at the end?
Those are feminine singular past participle forms. In Croatian past tense, the participle agrees with the speaker's gender and number.
So:
- female speaker: pogriješila, napisala
- male speaker: pogriješio, napisao
A man would say: U desnom stupcu sam pogriješio prezent, ali sam u lijevoj rubrici točno napisao infinitiv.
How is the past tense formed in sam pogriješila and sam napisala?
Croatian past tense is usually made with:
- the present tense of biti = to be
- plus the past participle
So here:
- sam pogriješila = I made a mistake / I got it wrong
- sam napisala = I wrote
The word sam is the 1st person singular form of biti in this tense.