Breakdown of Ova čaša je od stakla, a ne od plastike.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
a
and / but
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
ne
no, not
čaša
glass
od
from
staklo
glass (material)
plastika
plastic
Questions & Answers about Ova čaša je od stakla, a ne od plastike.
Why does this sentence use od to say what the glass is made of?
The preposition od usually means "from", but it is also used to describe the material something is made of (its origin). When you say od stakla (made of glass) or od plastike (made of plastic), you must use the Genitive case after od.
What are the base forms of stakla and plastike, and why did their endings change?
The dictionary forms are staklo (glass, the material) and plastika (plastic). Because they come after the preposition od, they need to be in the Genitive case. For neuter nouns ending in -o like staklo, the ending changes to -a (stakla). For feminine nouns ending in -a like plastika, the ending changes to -e (plastike).
Why does Croatian use two different words (čaša and stakla) for the English word "glass"?
Croatian has two separate words depending on the meaning. Čaša is the object you drink out of (a drinking glass). Staklo is the physical material. So, the sentence literally translates to "This drinking-glass is from material-glass".
Why does the sentence use a ne instead of i ne for "and not"?
In Croatian, a is a conjunction used to show contrast, often translated as "but" or "and" when comparing two different things. Since we are contrasting what the glass is made of versus what it isn't made of, a ne is the natural choice to emphasize that contrast.
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