Questions & Answers about Kupujemo sapun i ručnik.
Why is there no word for 'we' in this sentence?
In Croatian, the verb ending usually tells you who is doing the action. The ending -mo in kupujemo means 'we are buying', so you do not need to add the word mi (we) unless you want to emphasize it.
I just learned about the reflexive pronoun se. Why isn't it used here?
You use se when an action is done to yourself, or with special reflexive verbs. Here, the action of buying is happening to the soap (sapun) and towel (ručnik), not to the people buying them. Therefore, kupovati (to buy) acts as a regular, non-reflexive verb here.
Are sapun and ručnik in the accusative case here since they are the objects being bought?
Yes, they are! Because they are masculine nouns that represent non-living things, their accusative form looks exactly the same as their basic dictionary form. If we were buying a living masculine thing, the ending would change.
Does kupujemo mean 'we buy' or 'we are buying'?
It can mean both! Croatian does not have a separate continuous tense like English does with 'are buying'. You use the exact same present tense verb, kupujemo, for both.
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