Aorist / Conditional bih

Bih as Past Form or Auxiliary

Level 6

Bih can be a past form of biti in literary language or the auxiliary used to form a conditional. Look for the rest of the predicate rather than translating the form in isolation.

How It Works

The aorist of biti has forms bih, bi, bi, bismo, biste, bi/biše. As a lexical or linking predicate, it can place existence, location or a property in a past narrative. This use is stylistically marked in contemporary prose.

The conditional uses bih, bi, bi, bismo, biste, bi with a past active participle: došao bih, otišli bismo. These auxiliary forms do not themselves assert that the action happened in the past.

Agreement supplies another clue: bila bih spremna is a conditional of biti, with bila expressing feminine singular agreement. Compare an ordinary past bila sam spremna. Read the full verb group before choosing “was,” “would” or another English rendering.

Examples (3)

  1. U taj čas bih sam u dvorani.

    At that moment I was alone in the hall.

  2. Došao bih ranije kad bih mogao.

    I would come earlier if I could.

  3. Bila bih spremna do podneva.

    I would be ready by noon.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Aorist / Conditional bihLevel 6Bih as Past Form or Auxiliary

Learn This First

The same bih-like forms must be distinguished as a simple past verb or a conditional auxiliary.

Words in This Pattern

biti