Juče sam zaboravila papir u kancelariji.

in

Breakdown of Juče sam zaboravila papir u kancelariji.

• kancelarija: office
• juče: yesterday
• papir: paper

Questions & Answers about Juče sam zaboravila papir u kancelariji.

Why is sam in the second position in Juče sam zaboravila... instead of right next to zaboravila?

Because sam is a clitic in Serbian. Clitics are short unstressed words that usually go in second position in the clause.

So in:

Juče sam zaboravila papir u kancelariji.

the first element is Juče and the clitic sam comes right after it.

This often feels unusual to English speakers, because English keeps auxiliaries more tightly attached to the main verb. In Serbian, though, second-position clitic placement is very normal.

Compare:

• Juče sam zaboravila papir.
• U kancelariji sam zaboravila papir.
• Papir sam zaboravila juče.

In all of these, sam tends to appear after the first stressed element or phrase.

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Why is it zaboravila and not zaboraviti?

Because zaboravila is the form used in the past tense, while zaboraviti is the infinitive.

Serbian past tense is usually formed with:

• a present-tense form of biti (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su)
• plus the l-participle

So here:

• sam = I have / am as the auxiliary
• zaboravila = past participle of zaboraviti

Together, sam zaboravila means I forgot.

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Why does zaboravila end in -a?