(transitive,copulative)Used to connect a noun to an adjective or passivepast participle that describes it (equivalent to all English senses and functions as acopula; subject having the state, quality, identity, nature, role, etc., specified.)
Vrijemeje lijepo, a jasam sretan! ―The weather is nice and I am happy!
1st-person singularbudem is perfective while 1st-person singularjesam is imperfective.jesam,jesi,jest(e),jesmo,jeste andjesu theoretically constitute a verb whose infinitive was lost before Proto-Slavic and all fell under the umbrella of the infinitivebiti during Proto-Slavic.biti is thus simultaneously both imperfective and perfective and has therefore both a present (budući) and a past (bivši) verbal adverb.
1 Croatian spelling: others omit the infinitive suffix completely and bind the clitic. 2 For masculine nouns; a feminine or neuter agent would use the feminine and neuter gender forms of the active past participle and auxiliary verb, respectively. 3 Often replaced by the past perfect in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verbbiti(“to be”) is routinely dropped. 4 Often replaced by the conditional I in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verbbiti(“to be”) is routinely dropped. *Note: The aorist and imperfect were not present in, or have nowadays fallen into disuse in, many dialects and therefore they are routinely replaced by the past perfect in both formal and colloquial speech.
1 Croatian spelling: others omit the infinitive suffix completely and bind the clitic. 2 For masculine nouns; a feminine or neuter agent would use the feminine and neuter gender forms of the active past participle and auxiliary verb, respectively. 3 Often replaced by the past perfect in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verbbiti(“to be”) is routinely dropped. 4 Often replaced by the conditional I in colloquial speech, i.e. the auxiliary verbbiti(“to be”) is routinely dropped. *Note: The aorist and imperfect were not present in, or have nowadays fallen into disuse in, many dialects and therefore they are routinely replaced by the past perfect in both formal and colloquial speech.
Trgovinaje za kavarno. ―The store is behind the cafe
(transitive,copulative)Used to connect a noun to an adjective, noun or passivepast participle that describes it (equivalent to all English senses and functions as acopula; subject having the state, quality, identity, nature, role, etc., specified.)
2015 April 2, “Govor generalnega državnega tožilca na posvetu "Otrok in pasti sodobnega časa"”, inDržavno tožilstvo republike Slovenije[4], retrieved7 February 2023:
O aktualnosti teme pani da bi govoril, saj je pravzaprav večna: ni bilo časa, ki s sabo ne bi prinašal, ob vseh drugih, tudi novih pasti, problemov in vprašanj.
Itis not worth talking about the topicality of this topic because it is actually timeless: there was not a time that would not bring, in addition to all other, also new traps, problems and questions.
This verb is very hard to translate in English as it can form many specific formations that are not present in English and often require complete restructuring of the sentence. Additionally, it also has many irregularities and additional forms regarding conjugation. Both of these are detailed here.
Impersonal be can form many specific forms that often have to be translated together with the surrounding words, often changing the whole structure of a sentence:
Očitno jebilo, da ni imel pojma o tem, kar govori. ―Itwas clear that he had no idea about what he was telling.
Veliko kruhaje še. ―There is a lot of bread (left)
Strah meje. ―Iam scared.
Žal mi jebilo. ―Iregretted it.
In the first example, also given in the definitions, there is no problem translating the verb as the impersonality can be represented by impersonalit. In the second example, the formthere be can be used to convey the meaning. However, in the last two examples, translation is not that simple.
In the third example, wordstrah means "fear"(noun),me means "I"(accusative case) andje is the impersonal form ofbiti. Therefore, if one would literally translate this sentence, it would sound "Fear me is", which would not be understandable. In this case, the correct translation would be to convert "I" into the subject of the sentence, correctly conjugate the verb "be" and find a suitable adjective that would convey the same meaning, in this case "scared".
In the fourth example,žal means "unfortunately",mi means "I"(dative case), andje bilo is thepreterite impersonal formbiti. In this case, the verb has to be changed to the one that conveys the same meaning, and I has to be again converted into the subject.
These forms are not separate verbs as these forms are quite common and most of them are easily translatable (Bilo je mrzlo. ―Itwas cold.). This kind of untranslatable formations only appears in cases where dative or accusative are present and can in some cases also extend to the personal be, e.g.Same kostiso ga. ―Heis skinny. (literally, “The bones are him.”), which is easier to understand, but still weird to say.
This problem is similar to that in German, e.g. with the wordkalt.
The verb has three additional forms that are not common for other verbs: future forms, negative present indicative forms and conditional forms.
The future forms bear no stress when the verb is used as an auxiliary verb and stressed when it is a full-lexical form of the verb. In common speech, however, it is common to also form the future tense as with any other verb, i.e. unstressed forms followed by l-participle (bom bil). This form is not considered to be correct by SP[→SP]. In some dialects, future forms also have its special negative form,naum/noum/nbom.
The conditional form is used only as an auxiliary verb, except in cases withellipsis (sense 5). Even when one wants to form conditional ofbiti, l-participle has to be included (bi bil). The verb also has no distinction between present and past conditional; both use only one l-participle. It usually bears no stress, but in negative form, the stress can be transferred fromne (ne bȉ), however the more common form is as usual (nȅ bi).
Present forms are stressed as a full-lexical verb and unstressed as auxiliary verb.
All unstressed forms can also bear stress when they have the stress in the sentence.
2019 February 25, “Žena je po nasvetu psihologa udarila svojega moža. Mož tepe svojo ženo, ali Pazite se sadista v hiši! Možni dejavniki tveganja za pojav agresije”, inKormeshka[5], retrieved8 February 2023:
Če mož rednobije svojo ženo, potem morate najti način, kako ga ustaviti.
If a man is regularlybeating his wife, you have to find a way to stop him.
tobeat(to hit repeatedly, but not necessarily in rhythm)
2023 February 8 (last accessed), “KAKO JESENI POLEPŠATI SVOJ DOM IN SE POČUTITI SREČNEGA”, inPlanet design[6]:
Dajmo torej nekaj predlogov, ki bodo hiši dali vitalnost , z majhnimi in velikimi okraski, ki lahko olepšajo in poskrbijo, da se počutimo vedno dejavne, tudi kadar zunaj dežbije po oknih.
Let's therefore give some suggestions, which will give your house vitality, with small and big decorations, which can embellish and make sure that we feel active, even when the rainis beating on the windows.
1863, Janez Leon,Levretanske pridige[8], Klagenfurt, page20:
In slišal sem glas od neba, kakor šum veliko vod, in kakor bobnenje velikega gromenja, in ta glas, katerega sem jaz slišal, je bil kakor citarjev, ki na svoje citrebijejo…
And I heard the voice from the sky, like the sound of many rivers, and like a grumble of a big thunder, and this voice, which I have heard before, was like that from men whichplay their zithers.
1862, “Posnetek iz novih postav”, inNovice kmetijskin, rokodelnih in narodskih stvari, (20)[9], Ljubljana, page434:
Na kogarbíje sum, da je storil hudodelstvo, na ktero je postavljena petletna ali še daljša ječa, tacega je treba bilo po sedaj veljavnem redu kazenske pravde zaprtega preiskovati in izpraševati; po novi postavi pa sme viša sodna gosposka tudi temu dovoliti, da ostane na svobodi ali ne zaprt, ako varščino dá ali pa poroka postavi, kakor je bilo gori zapovedano
Onto whomfalls the suspicion that he had done an evil deed, for which the penalty is five or more years, they had to be under the currently standing crime law inspected and questioned locked up; the new law stipulates that the higher-ranked judge can allow them to stay free and not locked up as well if he puts up the bail or the jury's opinion is what is mentioned above.