Breakdown of Djeca su se smijala na utakmici.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
dijete
child
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
utakmica
match
smijati se
to laugh
djeca
children
Questions & Answers about Djeca su se smijala na utakmici.
Why does the past tense verb end in -a (smijala) instead of the usual plural -i (smijali)?
The word for children, djeca, is a very special noun in Croatian. Even though it refers to a mixed group of kids, grammatically it requires neuter plural endings for verbs in the past tense. That is why the past tense action word (the l-participle) ends in -a (smijala) to match, rather than the regular masculine plural -i (smijali).
Why does it take three words (su se smijala) just to say "laughed"?
The Croatian past tense is usually made of two parts: a helper verb (su, meaning "are") and the main action word (smijala). The extra middle word, se, is there because the verb "to laugh" in Croatian is reflexive (smijati se). You can think of it as literally saying "The children are themselves laughed."
Why are su and se placed right after Djeca? Could we put them later in the sentence?
No, the word order here is strict. Both su and se are "clitics" (small, unstressed words). Croatian grammar rules require them to huddle together in a specific order in the second position of the sentence, right after the first main word (Djeca). When they are together, the helper verb (su) always comes before the reflexive word (se).
Why does the word for match change from utakmica to utakmici?
The preposition na (at/on), when used to say where something is happening, requires the Locative case. For most feminine nouns ending in -a like utakmica, this case involves dropping the -a and adding -i to the end, giving us na utakmici.
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