prelazili

Prelazili is a verbal form found in South Slavic languages, notably in Serbo-Croatian varieties such as Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin. It represents the third-person plural past tense of the verb prelaziti, which means to cross, traverse, or pass over. The form conveys imperfective aspect, typically describing past actions that were ongoing, repeated, or not fully completed at a given time. In English translations, prelazili is commonly rendered as “they were crossing” or “they crossed (repeatedly).”

Etymology and morphology: The form is built from the stem prelaz-, derived from the noun prelaz meaning a crossing or passage, plus the infinitive suffix -iti. The past-tense ending indicates subject agreement; standard usage marks masculine plural with -ili, while feminine and neuter variants exist in corresponding contexts.

Usage: Prelazili appears in narrative or descriptive texts to describe groups performing crossings over rivers, borders, roads, or other obstacles in the past. It can denote literal crossings, such as traveling through terrain, as well as figurative crossings, such as crossing a threshold or boundary in a metaphorical sense.

See also: Prelaz (crossing), Prelaziti (to cross). These related terms provide the root meaning and the non-past and infinitive forms commonly referenced together with prelazili in linguistic or lexical entries.