Questions & Answers about Ne znam koliko košta ova haljina.
Why is it ne znam and not something like nisam znam?
Because znam is the present tense of znati (to know), and in Serbian you usually negate present-tense verbs by putting ne in front of them:
- znam = I know
- ne znam = I don’t know
Nisam is the negative form of sam (I am / I have as an auxiliary), so it is used with past forms, not with a simple present verb like znam.
What does koliko mean here?
Here koliko means how much.
In this sentence, it introduces an indirect question:
- Koliko košta ova haljina? = How much does this dress cost?
- Ne znam koliko košta ova haljina. = I don’t know how much this dress costs.
So koliko can mean how much or how many, depending on context.
What form is košta?