Breakdown of Želim onaj šešir u izlogu.
željeti
to want
u
in, into
šešir
hat
onaj
that (over there) / the one (who)
izlog
shop window
Questions & Answers about Želim onaj šešir u izlogu.
Why do we use onaj here instead of taj?
In Croatian, demonstrative pronouns change based on distance. Ovaj is for something close to the speaker (this), and taj is for something close to the listener (that). Onaj is used for something far from both the speaker and the listener (that one over there). Since the hat is in a shop window at a distance from both of you, onaj is the right choice.
Želim (I want) takes the accusative case. Why didn't onaj šešir change its form?
It actually is in the accusative case! For masculine inanimate nouns (objects that are not alive, like šešir), the accusative form looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) form. Because the noun form doesn't change, its matching pronoun onaj also keeps its standard form.
Why does izlog (shop window) change to izlogu in this sentence?
We are describing a static location (where the hat currently is), so the preposition u requires the locative case. For masculine nouns like izlog, you form the locative by adding the ending -u, which gives us u izlogu.
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