The Verb 'biti' (to be)

01

The Present Tense

Short form - the everyday one:

• sam, si, je, smo, ste, su

• Ja sam učitelj.

  I am a teacher.

• Ona je studentica.

  She is a student.

• Oni su prijatelji.

  They are friends.

Long form - for stress or a short answer:

• jesam, jesi, jeste, jesmo, jeste, jesu

• Jesi li umoran? Jesam.

  Are you tired? I am.

The short form is a clitic: it cannot begin a sentence and normally stands in second position (see the topic on clitics and word order).

02

'This is' and 'That is'

To point something out, Bosnian uses ovo je (this is), to je (that is) and ono je (that one is). The pointing word does not change for the gender of what follows.

• Ovo je moja prijateljica.

  This is my friend.

• To je stari radio.

  That is an old radio.

• Šta je to?

  What is that?

03

Making It Negative

biti has its own fused negative forms; you never add a separate ne.

• nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu

• Ona nije učiteljica.

  She is not a teacher.

• Nismo umorni.

  We are not tired.

04

Asking Questions

Questions use the long form plus li, or simply je li in the third person.

• Jesi li bolestan?

  Are you sick?

• Je li ovo tvoj ujak?

  Is this your uncle?

• Jeste li otvoreni?

  Are you open?

05

The Predicate Is Indefinite

When an adjective follows biti to describe the subject, it takes the short (indefinite) form, and it still agrees in gender and number.

• Auto je nov.

  The car is new.

• Vrijeme je hladno.

  The weather is cold.

• Sretni ste.

  You are happy.

06

Saying Where Something Is

biti also places something somewhere, followed by a preposition and its noun. Which case that noun takes is decided by the preposition, not by biti: u (in) and na (on) take the locative, while position words like ispred (in front of) take the genitive. The short form of biti often slides to the end of the sentence.

• U školi je.

  She is at school. (locative, after u)

• Na stolu je moj tanjir.

  My plate is on the table. (locative, after na)

• Ispred vrata sam.

  I am in front of the door. (genitive, after ispred)

07

Building Other Tenses

The present of biti is also the auxiliary for the past tense of every verb: the short form plus that verb's participle, which agrees in gender and number with the subject.

• Kupili smo namirnice.

  We bought groceries.

• smo from biti, kupi-li the participle of kupiti

When the verb being put in the past is biti itself, its participle is bio (m), bila (f) or bilo (n).

• Bila sam u prodavnici.

  I was in the store.

• On je bio mlad.

  He was young.

• Kako je bilo u bolnici?

  How was it at the hospital?

Its own future is bit ću, bit ćeš, and so on.

• Bit će hladno.

  It will be cold.

• Bit ću odsutna sedmicu dana.

  I will be away for a week.