Breakdown of Nemoj joj prilaziti jer je ljuta.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
jer
because
joj
to her
nemoj
do not (sg., pl. nemojte)
ljut
angry; spicy
prilaziti
to approach
Questions & Answers about Nemoj joj prilaziti jer je ljuta.
How does the negative command work in this sentence?
To tell someone not to do something, we use the helper word nemoj (for 'you' singular) followed by the infinitive of the verb, which is prilaziti here. If you were talking to multiple people or someone you address formally, you would use nemojte instead.
Why does the word joj split up nemoj and prilaziti?
The word joj (meaning 'to her') is an enclitic, which is a weak word that always wants to be in the second position of a sentence. Since nemoj is the first word, joj jumps right after it, pushing the main verb prilaziti to the third spot.
Why do we use the dative pronoun joj instead of the accusative ju for 'her'?
In Croatian, the verb prilaziti (to approach) requires the dative case. You can think of it as approaching 'to' someone. Therefore, we must use the dative form joj.
Since the word for 'she' isn't in the second part of the sentence, how do we know who is angry?
Even though the pronoun ona (she) is dropped, the adjective ljuta (angry) ends in -a, which is the feminine singular form. This ending matches the hidden subject and tells us that a female is the one who is angry.
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