Questions & Answers about Ovdje ne možemo plivati.
How do we form "cannot" in Croatian? Is it one word?
No, in Croatian, the word for "not" (ne) is almost always written separately from the verb. So "we cannot" is two words: ne možemo.
Why does the verb plivati end in -ti instead of having a "we" ending like možemo?
plivati is in its infinitive form (the basic dictionary form, meaning "to swim"). When you use a "can" verb like možemo, the second verb describing the action always stays in the infinitive.
Where is the word for "we" in this sentence?
The "we" is built right into the verb. The ending -mo on možemo tells us it means "we can". You do not need to add the pronoun mi (we) unless you really want to emphasize it.
Could I put ovdje at the end of the sentence instead?
Yes, you could say Ne možemo plivati ovdje. Croatian word order is quite flexible. Putting ovdje at the beginning just gives it a little more emphasis, like saying that here we cannot swim (but maybe somewhere else we can).
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