Ti si juče kasno čekala autobus.

You waited for the bus late yesterday.

Breakdown of Ti si juče kasno čekala autobus.

• ti: you
• juče: yesterday
• čekati: to wait for
• autobus: bus

Questions & Answers about Ti si juče kasno čekala autobus.

Why is ti used here? Can Serbian leave out the subject pronoun?

Yes. Serbian often omits subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form or context.

So instead of:

Ti si juče kasno čekala autobus.

you could very often just say:

Juče si kasno čekala autobus.

Adding ti gives extra emphasis, contrast, or clarity, for example:

• Ja sam došla ranije, a ti si juče kasno čekala autobus.
• You, on the other hand, were waiting for the bus late yesterday.

So ti is not wrong at all, but it is often more emphatic than English you.

Why do we have both si and čekala? Why isn’t one verb enough?

This is the past tense in Serbian, often called the perfect.

It is formed with:

• the present tense of biti = to be
• plus the past active participle

Here:

• si = you are / auxiliary part used for the past
• čekala = past participle of čekati

So:

• ti si čekala = you waited / you were waiting

This is a normal Serbian past-tense structure.

Compare:

• ja sam čekala = I waited
• ti si čekala = you waited
• on je čekao = he waited