Questions & Answers about Ona je zatvorila vrata u kući.
Why is je used here?
Je is the 3rd person singular present form of biti (to be), and here it helps form the perfect tense, which is one of the main past tenses in Serbian.
So:
- ona = she
- je zatvorila = closed / has closed
This structure is very common in Serbian:
- sam + past participle = I did
- si + past participle = you did
- je + past participle = he/she/it did
In this sentence, je zatvorila means she closed.
Why does zatvorila end in -la?
Because the subject is ona (she), and the past participle agrees with the gender of the subject.
With zatvoriti (to close), the past participle changes like this:
- zatvorio = he closed
- zatvorila = she closed
- zatvorilo = it closed
So zatvorila shows that the subject is feminine singular.
What exactly is zatvorila grammatically?
It is the past active participle of zatvoriti. In everyday learning terms, it is the part of the verb used with forms of biti to make the past tense.