Questions & Answers about Ona će platiti haljinu u prodavnici danas.
Why is će separate from the verb instead of being attached to it?
In Serbian, the future tense is often formed with the short form of hteti (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će) plus the infinitive or a da + present construction.
Here, ona će platiti means she will pay.
With a full subject like ona, the clitic će usually comes in the second position of the sentence or clause:
- Ona će platiti...
You may also see:
- Platiće... = She will pay...
That attached form is also correct, but when the subject is stated explicitly, ona će platiti is very common and natural.
Why is it platiti and not plaćati?
Platiti is a perfective verb, while plaćati is its imperfective partner.
- platiti = to pay, seen as a completed action
- plaćati = to be paying, to pay repeatedly, to pay in general
In this sentence, the speaker is talking about one future completed act of payment, so platiti is the natural choice:
- Ona će platiti haljinu... = She will pay for the dress
If you used plaćati, it would sound more like an ongoing, habitual, or repeated action, depending on context.
Why is haljina changed to haljinu?