Breakdown of Rasporedili smo novac ne samo za cilj nego i za rezervu.
biti
to be
novac
money
za
for
ne samo ... nego i ...
not only ... but also
Questions & Answers about Rasporedili smo novac ne samo za cilj nego i za rezervu.
Why is the past tense rasporedili smo made of two words?
In Serbian, the usual past tense is formed with:
- a short form of to be: sam, si, je, smo, ste, su
- plus the past participle of the main verb
So:
- rasporedili = past participle
- smo = we are/have in this tense construction
Together, rasporedili smo means we distributed / we allocated / we have allocated, depending on context.
English often uses one main verb form, but Serbian normally uses this two-part structure.
Where is the word for we in the sentence?
It is not stated separately because it is already built into the verb phrase:
- smo tells you the subject is we
- rasporedili also agrees with a plural subject
Serbian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb. You could add mi for emphasis:
- Mi smo rasporedili novac... = We allocated the money...
But without emphasis, Serbian usually just omits mi.
Why does the participle end in -li: rasporedili?
That ending shows agreement with the subject in number and, in the singular, also gender. Here the subject is , plural, so the participle is plural.