Word
Stranac priča o najboljem restoranu.
Meaning
The foreigner is talking about the best restaurant.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Stranac priča o najboljem restoranu.
restoran
restaurant
pričati
to talk
o
about / on (dependent on)
stranac
foreigner
Questions & Answers about Stranac priča o najboljem restoranu.
Why does the adjective najboljem end in "-em" when the noun restoranu ends in "-u"?
In Croatian, adjectives and nouns use different sets of endings. For masculine singular nouns in the locative case, the ending is usually -u (like restoranu). But for the adjectives describing them, the ending is -om or -em (like najboljem). They agree in case, gender, and number, even if their final letters are different.
Why is the phrase o najboljem restoranu in the locative case?
The preposition o means "about" when it is used with the locative case. Since the foreigner is talking about a specific topic (the restaurant), both the adjective and the noun must be put into the locative.
The locative ending for masculine adjectives is often "-om". Why is it "-em" here?
Adjectives that have a base ending in certain "soft" consonants take the -em ending instead of -om in the dative and locative cases. The base word najbolji (best) contains the soft consonant lj, so it becomes najboljem. If it were a standard "hard" adjective like stari (old), it would be o starom restoranu.
I know dobar means "good". How do we get najboljem for "best"?