ztratilo

Ztratilo is a grammatical form found in some South Slavic languages, most notably Slovenian, used to mark a completed loss event with a neuter subject. It is the neuter singular past passive participle of the verb ztrati, meaning “to lose.” In these languages, participles often agree in gender and number with the noun they modify, so the masculine form is ztratil and the feminine form is ztrata or ztratil[a], while the neuter form appears as ztratilo.

Etymology and cognates: The form ztratilo belongs to a family of participial endings in Slavic languages that attach -ilo to the verb stem to create a neuter past participle. It has recognizable cognates in related languages, such as Czech ztratilo and Polish straciło, reflecting a shared pattern for indicating a completed loss or resulting state.

Morphology and usage: Ztratilo functions as a participial adjective rather than as an independent lexical verb. It typically occurs within sentences as part of perfective constructions or impersonal expressions describing a state resulting from the action of losing. In Slovenian, such participles often appear in combination with auxiliary elements or reflexive particles to express the event from a neutral or indefinite perspective, for example in impersonal or impredicative clauses. The form signals a past action that has relevance to the current state of the subject, which is grammatically neuter.

See also: Slovenian grammar, past participles, Slavic participles, word formation.

Note: Ztratilo is primarily a linguistic term describing a morphological form rather than a widely used standalone word in everyday vocabulary. It may also appear in linguistic descriptions of related languages with similar participial endings.