Mi bismo pozvali komšiju i komšinicu, ali oni sada rade.

We would invite the male neighbor and the female neighbor, but they are working now.

Breakdown of Mi bismo pozvali komšiju i komšinicu, ali oni sada rade.

• raditi: to work
• sada: now
• ali: but
• i: and

Questions & Answers about Mi bismo pozvali komšiju i komšinicu, ali oni sada rade.

What does bismo mean here?

Bismo is the conditional auxiliary for we. In English, it usually corresponds to would.

So:

• Mi bismo pozvali = We would invite

Serbian forms the conditional with:

• bih = I would
• bi = you would / he would / she would / it would
• bismo = we would
• biste = you would
• bi = they would

Then you add the main verb in its -l participle form.

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Why is it pozvali? What kind of verb form is that?

Pozvali is the -l participle of pozvati.

In the Serbian conditional, you do not use a simple present form like pozovemo. Instead, you use:

• bismo
  • pozvali

So:

• Mi bismo pozvali = We would invite

Compare:

• pozovemo = we invite / let us invite / we will invite in certain contexts, but not the normal way to say we would invite
• bismo pozvali = we would invite

This is one of the core patterns in Serbian grammar.

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Why does pozvali end in -li? Could it ever be pozvale instead?