Smanjili smo ne samo troškove nego i manjak.

to be

Breakdown of Smanjili smo ne samo troškove nego i manjak.

• ne samo ... nego i ...: not only ... but also
• trošak: a cost; expense
• manjak: a shortfall; deficit

Questions & Answers about Smanjili smo ne samo troškove nego i manjak.

Why does smo come after smanjili instead of before it?

Because smo is a clitic, and Serbian clitics usually take the second position in the sentence or clause.

So:

• Smanjili smo = literally something like Reduced have-we
• natural English order would be We have reduced

In Serbian, the full subject pronoun mi is often omitted because the verb form already shows the person and number. So smo just goes into its normal clitic position after the first element:

• Smanjili smo troškove. = We reduced the costs.

You can also say:

• Mi smo smanjili troškove.

Here mi is included for emphasis or contrast.

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What exactly does smanjili smo mean grammatically?

Smanjili smo is the past tense (perfect) of the verb smanjiti.

It is made of:

• smanjili = past participle, masculine plural
• smo = we are/have auxiliary form used to build the past tense

Together:

• smanjili smo = we reduced / we have reduced

The participle is plural because the implied subject is we.

If the speakers were all female, you could also hear:

• Smanjile smo...

That is the feminine plural form.

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Why is the verb smanjiti used here, not smanjivati?