sam / si / je / smo / ste / su

Present of Biti

Level 1

Biti links a subject to an identity, description or location. Its ordinary short present forms are sam, si, je, smo, ste and su.

How It Works

Start with Ja sam Ana., Ti si ovdje. and Ona je umorna. The form of biti agrees with the subject’s person and number, not with the gender of an adjective after it.

The short forms cannot normally stand alone as a stressed answer. For an emphatic “I am,” use the full form jesam. Likewise, do not begin an ordinary neutral sentence with unattached sam; Umoran sam. provides material before it.

The same short forms later act as auxiliaries in compound past tenses. Here they are used as linking verbs. Croatian normally includes this present linking verb where English has am, is or are; it is not routinely omitted as in Russian.

Examples (4)

  1. Ja sam Ana.

    I am Ana.

    Sam matches first-person singular ja.

  2. Mi smo kod kuće.

    We are at home.

    Smo matches first-person plural mi.

  3. Knjiga je zanimljiva.

    The book is interesting.

    Je links a singular subject to its description.

  4. Oni su ovdje.

    They are here.

    Su is third-person plural.

How It Connects

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sam / si / je / smo / ste / suLevel 1Present of Biti

Learn This First

Choose the present linking verb by the subject’s person and number.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

biti