Breakdown of Ovi hoteli su novi.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
nov
new
hotel
hotel
Questions & Answers about Ovi hoteli su novi.
Why is the word for "these" ovi instead of ovo?
Ovo is used as a general "this" when pointing something out, like in Ovo je hotel (This is a hotel). However, when the word for "this" or "these" attaches directly to a specific noun (These hotels), it acts like an adjective and must match the noun's gender and number. Since hoteli is masculine plural, we use the masculine plural form ovi.
How do you form the plural of a word like hotel?
Hotel is a masculine noun because it ends in a consonant (the letter L). To make most masculine nouns plural in Croatian, you simply add an -i to the end, making it hoteli.
Why is the verb su (are) the third word in the sentence? I thought it had to be in the second position.
You are right that short, unstressed verbs like su (called enclitics) usually go in the second position of a sentence. However, the "second position" can refer to the second grammatical unit rather than the second literal word. Here, Ovi hoteli (These hotels) groups together as one single subject block, so su comes directly after it.
Why does the word for "new" end in an -i here (novi)?
Adjectives must match the noun they are describing. Because hoteli is masculine and plural, the adjective nov (new) also needs the masculine plural ending, which is -i. Notice how ovi, hoteli, and novi all rhyme because they share that same masculine plural -i ending!
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