Breakdown of Nitko se nije zabavljao s dosadnim poznanicima.
nisam
am not (nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu)
dosadan
boring
nitko
nobody
s
with
poznanik
acquaintance
zabavljati se
to have fun
Questions & Answers about Nitko se nije zabavljao s dosadnim poznanicima.
Why does the sentence use nije (did not) if it already says nitko (no one)?
Croatian uses double negatives! Whenever you use a negative word like nitko (no one), ništa (nothing), or nikada (never), the verb must also be negative. So literally, this sentence says 'No one did not have fun.'
How do we get the form poznanicima from the base word poznanik (acquaintance)?
First, the masculine noun poznanik becomes plural. The k changes to c before the plural -i, making poznanici. Then, because it follows the preposition s (with), it must be in the instrumental case. For regular masculine nouns, the instrumental plural ending is -ima, which gives us poznanicima.
Why doesn't the adjective dosadnim (boring) match the -ima ending of the noun?
Adjectives and nouns have different rules for their endings. While regular masculine and neuter nouns take -ima in the instrumental plural, adjectives in the instrumental plural always take the ending -im across all three genders. That is why dosadni becomes dosadnim.
Why is the word se located right after nitko?
The verb here is zabavljati se (to have fun), which requires the reflexive pronoun se. This pronoun is an enclitic, meaning it is a 'weak' word that must sit in the second position of the sentence. Here, it naturally falls directly after the first word, nitko.
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