Cvjećarka mi je pokazala bijele ljiljane i crvene karanfile, ali sam uzela samo ljiljane.

to be

Breakdown of Cvjećarka mi je pokazala bijele ljiljane i crvene karanfile, ali sam uzela samo ljiljane.

• i: and
• ali: but
• mi: me (dative short form)

Questions & Answers about Cvjećarka mi je pokazala bijele ljiljane i crvene karanfile, ali sam uzela samo ljiljane.

Why is cvjećarka feminine, and what exactly does it mean?

Cvjećarka means flower seller or florist (specifically a woman).

It is a feminine noun, and that matters because the verb later agrees with it:

• Cvjećarka ... je pokazala = The florist ... showed
• pokazala is the feminine singular past form

So this sentence tells you that the florist is female.

What does mi mean here, and why isn’t it mene?

Mi here means to me.

The verb pokazati often works like this:

• pokazati komu što = to show someone something

So:

• mi = dative singular of ja = to me
• bijele ljiljane i crvene karanfile = the things being shown

You use mi, not mene, because mene is not the dative form. In this sentence, the person receiving the flowers-as-information is an indirect object, so dative is needed.

How is the past tense built in je pokazala and sam uzela?