Ona je tamo.

She is there.

Breakdown of Ona je tamo.

• biti: to be
• ona: she
• tamo: there

Questions & Answers about Ona je tamo.

What does ona mean here, and why is it used?

Ona is the Serbian third-person singular feminine pronoun, so it means she.

It is used when the speaker wants to make the subject clear or slightly emphasize it. In Serbian, subject pronouns are often omitted if the meaning is already obvious from context, so this sentence could also be shortened in some situations.

For example:

• Ona je tamo. = She is there.
• Tamo je. = She is there / He is there / It is there, depending on context

So in this sentence, ona makes it explicitly clear that the person is female.

What is je?

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb biti (to be).

So:

• ja sam = I am
• ti si = you are
• on/ona/ono je = he/she/it is

In Ona je tamo, je means is.

Why is it je and not jeste?

Serbian has a short unstressed form and a full stressed form of to be in some cases.

• je = short form
• jeste = full form

In a normal neutral sentence, Serbian usually uses the :