Breakdown of Redatelj gleda pozornicu cijelu večer.
večer
evening (f)
gledati
to watch
cijeli
whole
redatelj
director (of a film)
Questions & Answers about Redatelj gleda pozornicu cijelu večer.
How do we say "all evening" in Croatian without using words like "for" or "during"?
To express how long an action lasts, Croatian simply uses the accusative case without any preposition. In this sentence, cijelu večer is put into the accusative case to show that the watching lasts "all evening" or "the whole evening".
Why does the adjective cijelu get an accusative ending, but večer doesn't seem to change?
Večer is a special type of feminine noun because it ends in a consonant instead of the usual -a. For these nouns, the accusative form is exactly the same as the dictionary (nominative) form. However, any adjectives attached to it still follow the standard feminine rules, which is why cijela changes to cijelu.
Is pozornicu also in the accusative case here?
Yes! The verb gledati (to watch) needs a direct object, which takes the accusative case. The dictionary form is pozornica (stage). Since it is a regular feminine noun ending in -a, it changes its ending to -u.
The English translation says "is watching". Why doesn't the Croatian sentence use a helper verb?
Croatian doesn't have a separate continuous present tense like English does. The single verb gleda translates to both "watches" and "is watching". Because it is an imperfective verb (describing an incomplete or ongoing action), it perfectly captures the continuous feeling of "is watching".