сум бил + L-Form

Discovering Your Own Unnoticed Action

Level 6Sounds Like sum bil + l-forma

When you find out about something you did without noticing, use сум бил + the l-form: Сум бил заспал! (I must have fallen asleep!) A woman says Сум била заспала!

How It Works

Form. Use the present of сум, then бил, then the l-form of the main verb, usually a perfective one. Both l-forms agree with the speaker:

  • a man: сум бил заспал
  • a woman: сум била заспала
  • we: сме биле заспале

Short pronouns go after сум and before бил: Сум го бил ставил телефонот во фрижидерот! In the he, she and they forms there is no сум: тој бил заспал. That form mostly reports what others did, and it is taught in the reported past perfect.

Meaning: a discovery about yourself. Normally you vouch for your own actions with the aorist: Заспав во десет. (I fell asleep at ten.) But sometimes you did something without knowing it. You were asleep, tired or distracted, and now you see the result. Then you speak about yourself the way you would about news you heard:

  • Сум бил заспал! (I must have fallen asleep!) You wake up and the film is over.
  • Сум бил заборавил да го исклучам шпоретот! (It turns out I had forgotten to switch off the stove!)

English says "I must have...", "it turns out I had..." or "I had ..., without realizing".

Compare three ways to say it.

  • Заспав. I fell asleep. (A plain fact that I vouch for.)
  • Бев заспал кога дојде. I had already fallen asleep when you came. (See the past perfect.)
  • Сум бил заспал! I must have fallen asleep! (I only realize it now.)

A family of forms. The same "I did not see it myself" meaning gives the surprise form ти си бил and the reported forms (see reported forms across tenses). The plain perfect can mark the same kind of discovery: Сум заспал! The form with бил adds that it all happened earlier and was already over when you found out.

Examples (5)

  1. Сум бил заспал! Кога се разбудив, филмот веќе беше завршил.

    I must have fallen asleep! When I woke up, the film had already ended.

    Word by Word: I-am been fallen-asleep! When myself I-woke, film-the already was ended.

    The speaker did not notice falling asleep and only sees it now.

  2. Сум била заспала на каучот со вклучен телевизор.

    I must have fallen asleep on the couch with the TV on.

    Word by Word: I-am been(F) fallen-asleep(F) on couch-the with switched-on TV.

    A woman speaking: both l-forms end in -а.

  3. Сум бил заборавил да го исклучам шпоретот!

    It turns out I had forgotten to switch off the stove!

    Word by Word: I-am been forgotten to it I-switch-off stove-the!

    The speaker finds the stove still on.

  4. Сум го бил ставил телефонот во фрижидерот!

    I had put my phone in the fridge without noticing!

    Word by Word: I-am it been put phone-the in fridge-the!

    Го comes after сум and before бил.

  5. Сме биле влегле во погрешна сала!

    It turns out we had walked into the wrong hall!

    Word by Word: We-are been entered into wrong hall!

    The plural: сме биле влегле.

Common Mistakes

  • Mixing a feminine speaker with masculine forms.

    Сум бил заспала на каучот.
    Сум била заспала на каучот.

    Both l-forms agree with the speaker, so a woman says била заспала.

  • Adding е in the third person.

    Тој е бил заспал.
    Тој бил заспал.

    In the he, she and they forms, the auxiliary is left out: тој бил заспал, тие биле заспале.

  • Using the discovery form for something you clearly remember doing.

    Вчера сум бил купил леб, како што планирав.
    Вчера купив леб, како што планирав.

    The intended meaning is a plain planned action you remember, so use the aorist. Сум бил + l-form would say you only found out about it now.

How It Connects

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

сум бил + L-FormLevel 6Discovering Your Own Unnoticed Action

Learn This First

Discovering your own action builds on the admirative and reported forms.

Words in This Pattern