Breakdown of Studenti će jesti sladoled.
student
student
jesti
to eat
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
sladoled
ice cream
Questions & Answers about Studenti će jesti sladoled.
Why does the translation say "will eat" if the lesson is about the verb htjeti (to want)?
Even though the verb htjeti means "to want", its short forms are used as helper verbs to build the future tense in Croatian. So, while će jesti might literally look like "want to eat", it actually translates to the future tense: "will eat".
Is će the full form or the short form of the verb?
će is the short (unstressed) form for the "they" (third-person plural) pronoun. Because it is a short form, it acts as a clitic, meaning it has a strict rule to be in the second position of the sentence. That is why it sits right after the first word, Studenti.
Why is the main verb jesti not conjugated?
When you build the future tense using a short helper verb like će, the main verb always stays in its base, dictionary form (the infinitive). That is why we use jesti (to eat) instead of a conjugated form like jedu (they eat).
The word sladoled is the object of the sentence. Why didn't its ending change?
sladoled is indeed the direct object, so it is in the accusative case. However, it is a masculine noun. In Croatian, when a masculine noun is a non-living thing (inanimate), its accusative form looks exactly the same as its base dictionary form.