Biti
The verb to be
Biti means to be, and it is the most important verb in Croatian. You are actually already using it: Ja sam iz Hrvatske, Kako si? and Tko je to? all contain forms of biti. In this lesson you learn all the forms, where they go in a sentence and how to make them negative.
The forms
| Person | Short form | Long form | Not to be | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ja | sam | jesam | nisam | I am |
| ti | si | jesi | nisi | you are |
| on, ona, ono | je | jest | nije | he, she, it is |
| mi | smo | jesmo | nismo | we are |
| vi, Vi | ste | jeste | niste | you are (plural, formal) |
| oni, one, ona | su | jesu | nisu | they are |
Use oni for men or a mixed group, one for women and ona for neuter words. Vi with a capital letter is the polite form from lesson 3.
The long form: hardly ever
In a normal sentence you always use the short form: Ja sam umoran, never Ja jesam umoran. You only need the long form (jesam, jesi, jest…) in three cases:
- at the start of a question, with li: Jesi li umoran? You learn how to ask questions in lesson 5.
- as a short answer: Jesam. (Yes, I am.)
- for emphasis, for example when someone contradicts you: Ja jesam student! (I am a student!)
Sam never comes first
The short forms sam, si, je, smo, ste, su are small, unstressed words. They never come first in a sentence, but always in second place. You can leave out the pronoun, because the form of biti already tells you who it is about.
✗ Wrong: Sam umoran.
Not to be: one word
To make it negative, put ni- in front of the form: nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu. It is one word, and unlike sam it can come first: Nisam umoran. (I am not tired.) Ona nije ovdje. (She is not here.)
An adjective changes with the gender, just like in lesson 2. A man says Umoran sam, a woman says Umorna sam. The same goes for sretan → sretna (happy) and gladan → gladna (hungry).