Stress and short words in a sentence
The rule
Izgovor i akcenat
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
Rule 2 - enclitics carry no stress of their own
A closed set of short words - the enclitics - are never stressed. They lean on the stressed word before them and, just like the short form of бити covered earlier, can never begin a sentence or stand alone.
The full list is in the table below: the short forms of бити, the short personal pronouns, the reflexive се, and the question particle ли. When two enclitics land next to each other, they cluster in a fixed order right after the first stressed word.
| Kind | Words |
|---|---|
| Kratki oblici „biti“ | sam, si, je, smo, ste, su |
| Kratke lične zamenice | me, te, ga, je, ju, nas, vas, ih, mi, ti, mu, joj, nam, vam, im |
| Rečca i povratna zamenica | li, se |