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Questions & Answers about Zovem dragog prijatelja.
Why does the adjective for dear change to dragog here?
Because it describes a living, masculine noun (prijatelja) that is the direct object of the sentence. When a masculine noun is animate (alive), any adjective describing it in the accusative case takes an -og or -eg ending.
Why is the word for friend prijatelja instead of just prijatelj?
Prijatelj is the direct object being called, so it needs to be in the accusative case. For masculine nouns that represent living beings, you form the accusative by adding an -a to the end of the dictionary form.
Where is the word for I (ja) in this sentence?
In Croatian, you usually drop subject pronouns like ja because the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action. The -m ending on zovem means I am calling, making the pronoun unnecessary unless you want to add special emphasis.
What happens if I want to say I am calling a good friend instead?
You would apply the exact same animate accusative rules to the adjective dobar (good). It would change to dobrog, making the sentence Zovem dobrog prijatelja.