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Questions & Answers about Moram prati zube.
This lesson is about the reflexive word se. Why is there no se in this sentence?
The verb prati means "to wash". When you are washing yourself in general, you use the reflexive pronoun (prati se). But when you name the specific body part you are washing, like zube (teeth) or ruke (hands), you drop the se and just use the body part as the direct object.
Does prati literally mean "to brush"?
No, prati actually means "to wash". In Croatian, you "wash" your teeth (prati zube) rather than brushing them! You also "wash" your hair (prati kosu).
Why is the word for teeth zube instead of the regular plural zubi?
Zubi is the plural form used when teeth are the subject of a sentence (the Nominative case). But here, the teeth are the direct object receiving the action of being washed, so we must use the Accusative case. For masculine plural nouns, the Accusative ending is -e, which gives us zube.
Why don't we conjugate the verb for washing, making it something like moram perem?
When you use a modal verb like morati (to have to / must), only that first verb is conjugated to show who is doing the action (moram = I must). The second verb stays in its base "dictionary" form, the infinitive (prati). This is similar to English, where you say "I must wash" and not "I must I wash".