Questions & Answers about Češljam se u kupaonici.
Why is there a se in this sentence?
The verb češljati means to comb. By adding the reflexive pronoun se, it means to do the action to yourself. So, češljam se translates to I am combing myself, which is the natural way to say I am combing my hair in Croatian. Without se, you would need to specify what or whom you are combing.
Where is the word for I in this sentence?
Croatian usually drops subject pronouns like ja (I) because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action. The -am ending on češljam clearly tells us that I am the one doing the combing.
Why does the word for bathroom change to kupaonici here?
The dictionary form of the word is kupaonica. However, because you are talking about being located inside a place, the preposition u (in) forces the noun into the locative case. For most feminine nouns ending in -a, the ending changes to -i, making it kupaonici.
Could I start the sentence with se and say Se češljam u kupaonici?
No, the word se is a type of weak word called an enclitic. A major rule in Croatian is that enclitics can never be the first word in a sentence. They usually like to sit in the second position in a clause, which is why it comes right after češljam.
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