Question 1

Why do we use govore in the first half but reći in the second half?

Accepted Answer

This is a great example of an aspectual pair where the two verbs look completely different. govoriti (here as govore) is the imperfective verb, used for ongoing or repeated actions like speaking a lot in general. reći is its perfective partner, used for a completed action, like telling a specific piece of news once.

Question 2

Why is the word mi right after ali instead of after the verb?

Accepted Answer

mi (to me) is an enclitic, which is a short word that must take the second position in its clause. The conjunction ali (but) counts as the first word of the second clause, so mi naturally hooks right onto it, coming before the verbs ne žele.

Question 3

The word vijest ends in a consonant. Why does it take the feminine adjective ovu?

Accepted Answer

While most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, vijest (news) is one of the exceptions: it is a feminine noun. Here, it is the direct object of the verb reći, so it is in the accusative case. For these special feminine nouns, the accusative form looks exactly like the nominative, but the adjective changes to match it as a feminine object: ova becomes ovu.

Question 4

Why is reći in its dictionary form instead of being conjugated?

Accepted Answer

Because it follows the conjugated verb žele (they want). Just like in English (they do not want to tell), when you have a verb following words expressing a desire or ability, the second verb stays in its infinitive form.

Oni uvijek puno govore, ali mi ne žele reći ovu vijest.

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