Breakdown of Naša obitelj slavi godišnjicu dvanaestog veljače.
obitelj
family (f)
slaviti
to celebrate
naš
our
veljača
February
godišnjica
anniversary
dvanaesti
twelfth
Questions & Answers about Naša obitelj slavi godišnjicu dvanaestog veljače.
Why are the words for twelfth (dvanaestog) and February (veljače) in the genitive case?
In Croatian, to express when something happens on a specific date, you use the genitive case for both the day and the month. You can think of it as saying 'of the twelfth (day) of February'. That is why dvanaesti (twelfth) becomes dvanaestog, and veljača (February) becomes veljače.
I know dvanaest is twelve. How do we get dvanaestog?
To make ordinal numbers like first or twelfth, Croatian adds specific endings to the base numbers. The dictionary form for twelfth is dvanaesti. Because dates require the genitive case, the masculine -i ending changes to -og, giving us dvanaestog.
The word obitelj ends in a consonant. Why is it paired with the feminine word Naša instead of the masculine Naš?
Most Croatian nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, but obitelj is an important exception! It is a feminine noun. That is why it takes the feminine possessive Naša (our) instead of the masculine Naš.
Why does the word for anniversary (godišnjica) change to godišnjicu in this sentence?
It changes because it is the direct object of the verb slavi (celebrates) — it is the thing being celebrated. Feminine nouns that end in -a change their ending to -u in the accusative case to show this.
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