Breakdown of Ponekad se viđaju u gradu.
grad
city
ponekad
sometimes
u
in, into
sebe
oneself (stressed reflexive)
viđati
to see (regularly)
Questions & Answers about Ponekad se viđaju u gradu.
Why is the word se used here if they aren't looking at themselves?
In Croatian, the reflexive pronoun se doesn't just mean 'oneself'. It is also used for reciprocal actions, meaning 'each other'. In this sentence, viđaju se translates to 'they see each other'.
I learned that 'to see' is vidjeti, so why is the verb viđaju used instead of vide?
Viđaju comes from viđati, which is a special repeated (imperfective) version of vidjeti (to see). Because this sentence uses ponekad (sometimes) to describe a habit, Croatian prefers this repeated form to show that the action happens on a recurring basis.
Where is the word for 'they' in this sentence?
Croatian often drops subject pronouns like oni (they) because the verb already tells you who is doing the action. The -ju ending on viđaju is a specific ending for 'they'.
Why does the word for town (grad) have an -u at the end?
It is in the locative case. When the preposition u (in) describes a location where an action is happening, masculine nouns like grad take the -u ending to become u gradu.
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