Breakdown of To je novo pravilo i moramo ga poštovati.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
to
that
nov
new
i
and (additive)
ga
him, it (accusative clitic)
morati
must
poštovati
to respect
pravilo
rule
Questions & Answers about To je novo pravilo i moramo ga poštovati.
Why does the sentence use moramo without the word for "we"?
moramo is the "we" form of the verb morati (must). In Croatian, you usually drop subject pronouns like mi (we) because the verb ending -mo already tells you who is doing the action. Just like in English, this modal verb is followed by the full infinitive form of the main verb, which here is poštovati (to respect).
Doesn't ga usually mean "him"? Why does it mean "it" here?
You are right that ga is the object form (accusative case) for "him". However, it is also the exact same object form for neuter things. Because the noun it replaces, pravilo (rule), is a neuter noun, we use ga to mean "it".
Why is the little word ga placed between the two verbs?
ga is a "clitic", which is a short, unstressed word that follows strict ordering rules in Croatian. Clitics generally want to be in the second position of their clause. In the second half of this sentence, it neatly tucks in right after the first active verb moramo and before the infinitive poštovati.
Why does the adjective take the form novo instead of novi or nova?
Adjectives have to match the gender of the noun they describe. The word for rule, pravilo, ends in -o, making it a neuter noun. To match it, the adjective for "new" must also take the neuter ending -o, giving us novo pravilo.
Learn To je novo pravilo i moramo ga poštovati and more in Croatian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free