Breakdown of Na stolu je šalica mlijeka.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
stol
table
mlijeko
milk
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
šalica
cup
Questions & Answers about Na stolu je šalica mlijeka.
Why is it mlijeka and not mlijeko?
Mlijeko (milk) is a neuter noun. Because we are saying a cup of milk, we need the genitive case. For neuter nouns, we form the genitive singular by changing the final -o to an -a, making it mlijeka.
How does Croatian translate the phrase 'there is'?
Croatian doesn't use a filler word for 'there' in sentences like this. Instead of saying 'There is a cup on the table', you simply state the location, the verb, and the object: 'On the table is a cup' (Na stolu je šalica).
Why does the word for table end in -u here (stolu)?
This is a quick reminder of the locative case! We are describing where something is located using the preposition na (on). The dictionary form is stol (a masculine noun), and in the locative case, it takes the ending -u.
Why don't we use a word for 'of' before mlijeka?
In English, we use the preposition 'of' to show quantity, like 'a cup of milk'. In Croatian, the genitive case itself does this job. Just putting mlijeko into its genitive form (mlijeka) directly after šalica is enough to mean 'of milk'.
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