Questions & Answers about Lekar je prepisao dve tablete.
What is je doing in this sentence?
Je is the auxiliary verb used to form the perfect tense in Serbian.
So je prepisao means something like has prescribed / prescribed.
A useful breakdown is:
- lekar = doctor
- je = auxiliary for past tense
- prepisao = prescribed
In English, je may look like is, but here it does not mean is. It is part of the past-tense verb form.
Why is the verb split into je prepisao instead of being just one word?
In Serbian, many past-tense forms are made with:
- a form of biti (to be) as an auxiliary
- plus a past participle
So:
- je = auxiliary
- prepisao = past participle
Together they form the past tense.
This is very common in Serbian:
- On je došao. = He came / He has come.
- Lekar je prepisao... = The doctor prescribed...
Why does prepisao end in -ao?
Because prepisao agrees with the subject in gender and number.