Breakdown of Uporedili smo ne samo prihode nego i rashode.
biti
to be
ne samo ... nego i ...
not only ... but also
prihod
income; revenue
rashod
expenditure
Questions & Answers about Uporedili smo ne samo prihode nego i rashode.
Why is the sentence built with ne samo ... nego i ...?
This is the Serbian equivalent of not only ... but also ....
- ne samo prihode = not only revenues/income
- nego i rashode = but also expenses
It is a fixed paired structure, and both parts normally match grammatically. Here both prihode and rashode are plural direct objects.
Why is it uporedili smo, not smo uporedili?
Serbian perfect tense is made with:
- the l-participle: uporedili
- the auxiliary biti: smo
The auxiliary smo is a clitic, and clitics normally go in second position in the clause. Since uporedili is the first element here, smo comes right after it: Uporedili smo...
You can also say:
- Mi smo uporedili...
- Juče smo uporedili...
But Smo uporedili... is not a normal way to begin a sentence.
Why do we have prihode and rashode, not prihodi and rashodi?
Because they are direct objects, so they are in the accusative plural.