Raspakovala sam porudžbinu.

to be

Breakdown of Raspakovala sam porudžbinu.

• porudžbina: an order placed with a shop
• raspakovati: to unpack

Questions & Answers about Raspakovala sam porudžbinu.

Why is there no ja in this sentence?

Because Serbian often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form and context.

In Raspakovala sam porudžbinu, the combination of sam and raspakovala already tells you this means I unpacked.

You can say Ja sam raspakovala porudžbinu, but adding ja usually gives extra emphasis, like I unpacked it.

Why is sam placed after raspakovala?

Sam is a clitic in Serbian, meaning it is an unstressed word that normally goes in the second position of the sentence or clause.

So in:

Raspakovala sam porudžbinu

the first element is Raspakovala, and the clitic sam comes right after it.

Other possible word orders are:

• Ja sam raspakovala porudžbinu.
• Porudžbinu sam raspakovala.

But sam still stays near the beginning, in that second-position slot.

How is the past tense formed here?

This is the Serbian past tense, formed with:

• the l-participle of the main verb
• plus the present tense of biti as an auxiliary

Here:

• raspakovala = the participle