Breakdown of Otkazali smo izlet zato što nitko ne želi dobiti prehladu.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ne
no, not
željeti
to want
izlet
trip (m)
dobiti
to get / to win
otkazati
to cancel
nitko
nobody
zato što
because
prehlada
cold (illness)
Questions & Answers about Otkazali smo izlet zato što nitko ne želi dobiti prehladu.
Could we use jer instead of zato što in this sentence?
Yes! Both jer and zato što mean "because" and are usually interchangeable when they connect two parts of a sentence. Using zato što puts a tiny bit more emphasis on the specific reason itself, but in everyday speech, you will hear both used here perfectly fine.
Why is the verb negative in nitko ne želi? Doesn't that mean "nobody doesn't want"?
Yes, it literally translates to "nobody doesn't want". Croatian uses a double negative. Whenever you use a negative word like nitko (nobody), ništa (nothing), or nikad (never), the verb next to it must also be negative.
Why does the word for cold end in -u (prehladu)?
The dictionary form is prehlada. Because it is the direct object of the verb dobiti (to get), it goes into the accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -a, that ending changes to -u in the accusative.
Izlet (trip) is also a direct object here. Why didn't its ending change?
Izlet is a masculine noun that doesn't represent a living thing (it is inanimate). In Croatian, masculine inanimate nouns look exactly the same in the accusative case as they do in their basic dictionary form.
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