Breakdown of Naručili su večeru u restoranu.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
restoran
restaurant
u
in, into
večera
dinner
Questions & Answers about Naručili su večeru u restoranu.
Why does the verb end in -li in naručili?
This is the plural form of the past tense action word (the l-participle). Because the subject is "they", we use the -li ending. This specific ending is used for a group of men or a mixed group of men and women.
Where is the word for "they" in this sentence?
Croatian often drops subject pronouns like oni (they) because the verb already tells you who is doing the action. The helper word su goes with "they", and combined with naručili, it perfectly translates to "they ordered" without needing the pronoun.
Why is the word for dinner večeru instead of its normal form, večera?
Večera is the dictionary form. Here, it is the direct object—the thing that is being ordered. Feminine nouns that end in -a change their ending to -u when they receive an action (this is called the accusative case).
Why does restoran become restoranu here?
It is following the preposition u (in) to show a location. When stating where something happens, masculine nouns like restoran add a -u to the end (the locative case). Notice that even though večeru and restoranu both end in -u here, it happens for entirely different grammar reasons!