Sometimes, the subject of a sentence isn't just a single noun or pronoun, but an entire event or situation. When you want to highlight a specific fact or action as the core issue in a discussion, Croatian uses subject clauses.
To što (The fact that)
To turn a whole clause into a grammatical subject, start it with to što (literally "that which" or "the fact that"). This is a very common way to express how a situation affects you, such as when it annoys (živcirati) or complicates (otežavati) things.
| the fact that / that which | to što |
| The fact that he is constantly late annoys me a lot. | To što on stalno kasni jako me živcira. |
| The fact that there is no electricity makes the work difficult when it gets dark. | To što nema struje otežava posao kada pada mrak. |
Činjenica da (The fact that)
A slightly more formal alternative is činjenica da (the fact that). It functions exactly the same way, framing the following clause as a concrete piece of information. It pairs well with verbs like zabrinjavati (to worry) or when declaring a situation to be a shame (sramota).
| the fact that | činjenica da |
| The fact that they had forgotten about the meeting worries us a lot. | Činjenica da su bili zaboravili na sastanak jako nas zabrinjava. |
| The fact that we had lost that match is a big shame. | Činjenica da smo bili izgubili tu utakmicu velika je sramota. |
Adjective Agreement
Subject clauses are frequently used to pass judgment on a situation, using descriptive words like unacceptable (neprihvatljiv), absurd (apsurdan), or logical (logičan).
Pay close attention to the adjective endings when doing this:
- If the subject clause begins with to što, the adjective takes the neuter singular ending (e.g., -o).
- If the subject clause begins with činjenica da, the adjective must agree with the feminine noun činjenica, taking the feminine singular ending (e.g., -a).
| The fact that you do not respect the rules is completely unacceptable. | To što Vi ne poštujete pravila potpuno je neprihvatljivo. |
| The fact that we have to wait for an hour is really absurd! | To što moramo čekati sat vremena stvarno je apsurdno! |
| The fact that she does not want help is incomprehensible to everyone. | Činjenica da ona ne želi pomoć svima je neshvatljiva. |
| The fact that prices were rising while we were saving is very logical. | Činjenica da su cijene rasle dok smo štedjeli vrlo je logična. |
These subject clauses are highly flexible. You can easily place them into questions or combine them into larger arguments to clearly articulate your perspective.
| Does the fact that problems worry you make the work difficult for you? | Otežava li Vam rad to što Vas problemi zabrinjavaju? |
| His behavior is unacceptable, and the fact that he doesn't see it is completely incomprehensible. | Njegovo ponašanje je neprihvatljivo, a to što on to ne vidi potpuno je neshvatljivo. |