Word
Dječak mora pisati zadaću.
Meaning
The boy must do his homework.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Dječak mora pisati zadaću.
dječak
boy
morati
must
zadaća
homework
pisati
to write / to say, be stated (in a text)
Questions & Answers about Dječak mora pisati zadaću.
How does the "must" structure work in this sentence?
We use mora (the he/she/it form of the verb morati, which means must or to have to) followed by the infinitive verb pisati (to write).
Why is the verb pisati used if the English translation says "do"?
The verb pisati literally means to write. In Croatian, people say to write homework (pisati zadaću) instead of to do homework. The meaning is exactly the same!
Why does the word for homework end in -u (zadaću)?
The base word is zadaća (a feminine noun). Because it is the direct object of the action (the thing being written), it takes the accusative case. This means the ending changes from -a to -u.
The translation includes the word "his", but where is it in the Croatian sentence?
Croatian usually drops possessive words (like his, my, or your) when it is obvious from the context. Since the boy is doing the work, we already know it is his homework.