Breakdown of Moraš poštovati direktora.
direktor
director, manager (of a company)
morati
must
poštovati
to respect
Questions & Answers about Moraš poštovati direktora.
Why is there no word for "you" in this sentence?
The verb ending tells you who is doing the action. The -š ending on Moraš specifically means "you" (singular). Because of this, Croatian usually drops subject pronouns like "ti" (you).
How do we link "must" and "respect" together in Croatian?
You combine them just like in English! The modal verb morati (must) is changed to match the subject (Moraš for "you must"), and the second verb stays in its base dictionary form, called the infinitive. Here, that infinitive is poštovati (to respect).
How do I know poštovati is an infinitive?
In Croatian, almost all verbs in their base infinitive form end in -ti or -ći. The -ti at the end of poštovati is the giveaway that it is the unconjugated base form, used right after a modal verb like morati.
Why is it direktora instead of just direktor?
The director is the direct object here, meaning he receives the action of being respected. This puts the noun into the accusative case. Because direktor is a masculine noun that refers to a living person (an animate noun), it gets an -a added to the end.
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