Breakdown of Svi gledaju u mene zato što kasnim.
gledati
to watch
u
in, into
kasniti
to be late
sav
all (of a whole) / everyone, all (people) / everything
zato što
because
mene
me (emphatic)
Questions & Answers about Svi gledaju u mene zato što kasnim.
Why is the full form mene used here instead of the short form me?
Because it comes right after a preposition (u). In Croatian, whenever a pronoun follows a preposition, you must always use the full (emphatic) form instead of the short enclitic form.
Could I say Svi gledaju mene without the preposition u?
Yes, you can. The verb gledati can take a direct object without a preposition. However, using u (gledati u nekoga) specifically emphasizes the direction of the gaze, translating closer to "looking at" or "staring at" someone.
Why does "everyone" translate to Svi, and why is the verb plural (gledaju)?
Svi literally translates to the plural word "all". While English says "everyone is" using a singular verb, Croatian treats svi as plural, so it must be paired with the "they" form of the verb, which is gledaju.
In English we say "I am late," but here there is no word for "am". Why?
Can I use jer instead of zato što for "because" in this sentence?
Yes, you can absolutely say jer kasnim. Both jer and zato što mean "because". Zato što is just a slightly longer way to express it, and they are completely interchangeable here.
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