Word
Imamo jedanaest pitanja i dvanaest problema.
Meaning
We have eleven questions and twelve problems.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Imamo jedanaest pitanja i dvanaest problema.
i
and (additive)
problem
problem
pitanje
question
imati
to have
Questions & Answers about Imamo jedanaest pitanja i dvanaest problema.
Why do we use the genitive plural for both nouns in this sentence?
In Croatian, any number from 5 and up (like jedanaest and dvanaest) requires the noun being counted to be in the genitive plural case.
Why does the word problem change to problema instead of problemi?
The regular plural (nominative plural) for the masculine noun problem is indeed problemi. However, because it comes after a number of 5 or more, we must use the genitive plural. For most masculine nouns, this is formed by adding an -a to the end, making it problema.
The word for "questions" is pitanja, but isn't that just the regular plural?
It looks exactly the same on paper, but grammatically it is the genitive plural! The base word is pitanje (a neuter noun). For neuter nouns, both the regular plural and the genitive plural end in -a (pitanja). In spoken Croatian, the final -a in the genitive plural is actually pronounced slightly longer to tell them apart.
Do the numbers jedanaest and dvanaest change depending on the gender of the nouns?
No. While the numbers 1 through 4 change to match the gender of the noun they count, numbers 5 and above are undeclinable. This means words like jedanaest and dvanaest never change their form, no matter what noun follows them.