Breakdown of Trebaju mi ovi dokumenti i tvoj potpis hitno.
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
i
and (additive)
tvoj
your (informal)
trebati
to need / should (ought to)
mi
to me
hitno
urgently
dokument
document (m)
potpis
signature (m)
Questions & Answers about Trebaju mi ovi dokumenti i tvoj potpis hitno.
Why is the verb trebaju in the plural "they" form when the English translation says "I need"?
In Croatian, when you need a noun (a thing), you usually use the verb trebati impersonally. The literal structure is "These documents are needed to me." Because the things you need (ovi dokumenti i tvoj potpis) are plural, the verb takes the "they" form trebaju.
What is the word mi doing in this sentence?
mi is the short dative form of ja (I). In this structure, the person who needs something is the receiver, so they are always put in the dative case. It literally translates to "to me".
What case are ovi dokumenti and tvoj potpis in?
They are in the nominative case. Even though they are the objects we desire, in Croatian grammar they act as the subject of the sentence doing the "being necessary".
Would the verb change if I only needed one thing, like the signature?
Yes! If you only needed the signature, the grammatical subject would be singular (tvoj potpis). The verb would then change to the singular form treba, making the sentence: Treba mi tvoj potpis hitno.
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