Questions & Answers about Što pokazujete klijentu?
Why is the verb pokazujete used here instead of its perfective form?
Pokazujete comes from the imperfective verb pokazivati (to be showing). Since the question asks what you are showing right now (an ongoing action), we need the imperfective form. The perfective partner, pokazati, would be used for a completed action, like asking what you will show or have shown.
How can I recognize that the infinitive pokazivati is an imperfective verb?
It has the suffix -ivati. In Croatian, adding suffixes like -ivati or -avati to a perfective verb is a common way to make it imperfective. Here, the perfective verb pokazati changes its stem to become the imperfective pokazivati.
Why does the word klijent end in -u here?
It is in the dative case. When you show something to someone, the person receiving the action must be in the dative case. Since klijent is a masculine noun, its dative ending is -u.
If I wanted to ask 'What are you showing him?', how would the sentence change?
You would replace klijentu with the dative pronoun mu (to him). Because mu is a short clitic word, it has a strict rule to jump to the second position in the sentence, making it: Što mu pokazujete?
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