Breakdown of Jeste li slikali sliku kistom?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
slika
picture
li
question particle
slikati
to photograph, to paint
Questions & Answers about Jeste li slikali sliku kistom?
Why doesn't this sentence use the word s (with) before kistom?
In English, we say "with a paintbrush," but in Croatian, when you use an object as a tool or instrument to do an action, you use the Instrumental case without the preposition s (or sa). Since kist (paintbrush) is a masculine noun, it just takes the Instrumental ending -om to become kistom. You only use s when doing something alongside someone or something else, like "with a friend" (s prijateljem).
I thought slikati meant "to take a photo". Why does it mean "to paint" here?
The verb slikati is used for making images in general, so it can mean both "to paint" and "to take a photograph". You have to rely on context to tell the difference. Since the person in this sentence is using a kist (paintbrush), it clearly means "to paint"!
Why is the word for picture written as sliku instead of slika?
Sliku is the direct object of the sentence because it is the thing being painted. Feminine nouns that end in -a like slika change their ending to -u in the Accusative case to show they are receiving the action of the verb.
Can this sentence be addressed to just one person, even though the verb is plural (slikali)?