Your standpoint and your claims
At B2 an opinion is no longer just mislim da…. Croatian discussion language has a small set of nouns for the parts of an argument: stajalište (standpoint, point of view), tvrdnja (claim, assertion) and the razlozi za i protiv (reasons for and against). Poštujem tvoje stajalište, ali se ne slažem. The formula you met in the previous lesson now gets its own card: po mom mišljenju (in my opinion) — Po mom mišljenju, ovaj plan je dobar.
The verbs of arguing
| verb | meaning | typical object |
|---|---|---|
| iznijeti | to put forward | mišljenje, stav, razloge |
| obrazložiti | to explain, give reasons for | odgovor, odluku |
| potkrijepiti | to back up, substantiate | tvrdnju (dokazima, primjerom) |
| naglasiti | to emphasize | da…, važnost |
| istaknuti | to point out, highlight | da…, dobre strane |
All five are perfective — the exam texts use them in the past and with moramo, treba. Svaku tvrdnju moraš potkrijepiti primjerom. Note the instrumental of means: potkrijepiti dokazima, primjerom.
Getting to a conclusion
doći do zaključka (to reach a conclusion) is the fixed phrase — do + genitive, like the impersonal doći do you know: Došla je do zaključka da mora promijeniti posao. And to make someone notice something, obratiti pozornost na + accusative — the formal partner of paziti: Obratite pozornost na ovo pravilo.
