pomogli

Pomogli is a word from South Slavic languages, primarily Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, and Montenegrin. It is the masculine plural past participle of the verb pomoci (or pomagati), meaning to help. As a participle, pomogli is used to indicate that a group of male persons (or a mixed-gender group) performed the action of helping in the past.

In standard usage, pomogli forms part of the past tense when combined with the auxiliary verb biti. The typical construction is oni su pomogli, meaning “they helped.” The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number; corresponding forms include pomogao (he helped), pomogli (they helped, masculine or mixed), and pomogle (they helped, feminine).

The word does not function as a standalone noun. Its primary role is as a verb form or lexical item within a verb phrase. The related imperfective and perfective aspects are distinguished in Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, and Montenegrin by using the appropriate verb stem: pomoci for the perfective sense of helping, and pomagati for the imperfective.

Etymology traces pomogli to the root of help, with the suffixes that mark gender and number in past participles. Its usage reflects standard South Slavic grammar, where past participles agree with the subject and require a form of biti to express past tense.

See also: pomogao, pomogla, pomoglo, pomogli, pomagati, pomoci.