Breakdown of Ona se smirila posle intervjua.
ona
she
posle
after
intervju
the job interview
smiriti se
to calm down
Questions & Answers about Ona se smirila posle intervjua.
What is the dictionary form of smirila?
The dictionary form is smiriti se.
In this sentence, smirila is the feminine singular past form of that verb. When you look it up, include se, because smiriti and smiriti se do not mean exactly the same thing.
- smiriti = to calm someone/something
- smiriti se = to calm down
What does se do here?
Se is a reflexive clitic. Here it is part of the verb smiriti se.
It often does not need to be translated as a separate English word like herself. In this sentence, smirila se most naturally means calmed down.
So:
- Ona je smirila dete. = She calmed the child.
- Ona se smirila. = She calmed down.
Does smirila se mean she calmed down or she calmed herself down?
Usually it means she calmed down.
English often uses a simple intransitive verb here, while Serbian uses a reflexive form. Depending on context, it can sometimes feel close to she calmed herself down, but the normal translation is simply she calmed down.
Why is there no in the past tense here?