Breakdown of Poštovani doktore, morate čekati prije sastanka.
sastanak
meeting
čekati
to wait for
morati
must
prije
before, earlier
Questions & Answers about Poštovani doktore, morate čekati prije sastanka.
Why does the word for doctor end in -e here (doktore)?
Because you are talking directly to the doctor, you must use the vocative case. For masculine nouns that end in a regular consonant, like doktor, you form the vocative singular by adding -e.
Does the adjective Poštovani also change for the vocative case?
Yes! When an adjective comes before a masculine noun in the vocative, it must take the definite ending -i. Even if you might normally use an indefinite form, the vocative always forces this definite -i ending.
Why use the plural verb morate if there is only one doctor?
The speaker is using the polite, formal "you" to show respect. In Croatian, just like the formal address uses polite titles like Poštovani, it also requires the plural verb form morate instead of the informal singular moraš.
What happened to the last -a- in the word sastanak (meeting) to make it sastanka?
The preposition prije (before) requires the noun to be in the genitive case, so we add the ending -a. However, sastanak has what is called a "fleeting a". When a new ending is added, the a before the final consonant disappears, resulting in sastanka.