Questions & Answers about Zima joj je u uredu.
Why do we use joj instead of ona for "she"?
In Croatian, physical sensations like being cold or hot are expressed using the dative case. Instead of saying "She is cold", the sentence literally translates to "Coldness is to her". Joj is the dative clitic for "to her".
Why is the order joj je and not je joj?
Both joj and je are clitics (short words that usually go in the second position of a sentence). When you have multiple clitics together, they must follow a strict order. Dative clitics like joj always come before the verb "to be" clitics like je.
Doesn't zima mean "winter"?
Yes, zima primarily means "winter", but it is also used as a noun for the physical feeling of coldness. When paired with a dative pronoun, it forms a standard phrase for feeling cold, like Zima mi je (I am cold) or Zima joj je (She is cold).
Why does ured (office) change to uredu?
Because the sentence describes a location using the preposition u (in), the noun must be in the locative case. For most masculine nouns like ured, you form this case simply by adding -u to the end, making it u uredu.