Verbs: Past Tense

01

How to Build It

Take the short form of biti - sam, si, je, smo, ste, su - and add the participle.

• Kupila sam desetak jaja.

  I bought about ten eggs.

• kupi-la the participle - kupi- is buy, -la says the speaker is female
• sam the helper - the same word that means I am on its own, but here it adds no present meaning at all; it only marks the person

The English past is one word; the Bosnian past is always these two pieces.

• Kupili smo namirnice.

  We bought groceries.

• kupi-li plural participle, smo the helper for we

• Šta si radila jučer?

  What did you do yesterday?

02

The Participle Agrees in Gender and Number

This is the key difference from English: the participle changes its ending to match the subject. It ends in -o for a masculine subject, -la for feminine, -lo for neuter, and -li / -le / -la in the plural.

• masculine: radio, feminine: radila, neuter: radilo

• On je bio mlad.

  He was young.

• Ona je bila mlada.

  She was young.

• Nisam te vidjela devet godina.

  I haven't seen you for nine years. (female speaker)

• Nisam te vidio devet godina.

  I haven't seen you for nine years. (male speaker)

Because the ending carries the subject, the sentence often needs no pronoun at all: vidjela and vidio differ by nothing except who is speaking.

03

Word Order: the Clitic Comes Second

The helper (sam, je …) is an unstressed clitic and must sit in second position. With a subject pronoun it follows it; with the participle first, it follows the participle.

• Ja sam kupila hljeb.

  I bought bread.

• Kupila sam hljeb.

  I bought bread.

Never put the clitic first: not "Sam kupila".

04

The Negative Past

Use the negative forms of biti - nisam, nisi, nije… - with the participle.

• Nisam vidio.

  I didn't see.

• On nije došao.

  He didn't come.

05

Aspect Shapes the Meaning

A perfective participle reports a finished result; an imperfective one reports an ongoing or repeated past action. Same tense, different view.

• Kuhala sam ručak.

  I was cooking lunch.

• Skuhala sam ručak.

  I cooked lunch, it is ready.

06

Forming the Participle

The participle comes from the infinitive: drop the final -ti and add -o for masculine, -la / -lo for feminine and neuter, and -li / -le / -la in the plural.

• raditi → radio, radila, radilo (worked)
• kupiti → kupio, kupila, kupili (bought)

A few frequent verbs are irregular here: biti → bio, ići → išao, doći → došao, jesti → jeo.

• Kad sam bio mlad, živio sam u Kini.

  When I was young, I lived in China.

• Prošle sedmice sam stigao u New York.

  Last week I arrived in New York.

• Imala sam svoj stari sat deset godina.

  I had my old watch for ten years.

07

Asking About the Past

Questions use the same pieces, with li after the auxiliary or a question word at the front.

• Jesi li to vidjela?

  Did you see that?

• Šta si radila jučer?

  What did you do yesterday?

• Kako je bilo u bolnici?

  How was it at the hospital?

08

Telling Events in Order

To recount what happened step by step, chain perfective past verbs; the sentence order mirrors the order of events.

• Zatvorila je vrata nakon što sam ušao.

  She closed the door after I came in.

• Prošle godine sam počela novi posao.

  Last year I started a new job.