Breakdown of Okoliš na selu je čist, ali u gradu je zagađen.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
grad
city
selo
village
čist
clean / pure
ali
but (strong contrast)
u
in, into
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
okoliš
environment
zagađen
polluted
Questions & Answers about Okoliš na selu je čist, ali u gradu je zagađen.
Why does this sentence use ali instead of a for "but"?
The conjunction ali is used for direct opposition or contradiction, like "but" in English. Here, čist (clean) and zagađen (polluted) are direct opposites. If the second part just offered different but non-contradictory information (like "while the city is noisy"), you would use a instead.
Why do we say na selu for "in the village", but u gradu for "in the city"?
In Croatian, u usually means "in" or "inside" (like being inside a city's borders). However, some places traditionally take the preposition na (on/at), often referring to open spaces or rural areas. Selo (village or countryside) is a common exception, so we say na selu.
Why is the word for polluted zagađen and not zagađeni?
Why does je come after okoliš na selu in the first part, but right after u gradu in the second part?
The word je is an enclitic, a "weak" word that must naturally fall into the second logical position in a clause. In the first part, the entire phrase okoliš na selu (the environment in the village) acts as the first position. After the comma, u gradu (in the city) becomes the new first position, so je jumps right in after it.
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