Breakdown of Djeca su napravila nered po kući.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
kuća
house
dijete
child
napraviti
to do / to make
po
across, around
nered
mess
djeca
children
Questions & Answers about Djeca su napravila nered po kući.
Why do we use po kući here instead of u kući?
While u kući simply means "in the house", using the preposition po gives the meaning of "around" or "all over". When combined with the locative case, po describes something spread out across an area or surface, which perfectly describes a messy house.
Why is the word for house spelled kući here?
Because it comes after the preposition po. When po is used to describe where an action takes place, it requires the locative case. The base word (nominative) is kuća, and its locative form changes the -a to an -i, making it kući.
Why does the past tense verb napravila end in -a if djeca (children) is plural? Shouldn't it be napravili?
The word djeca is a special collective noun. Even though it refers to multiple people and takes a plural helper verb (su), the past participle must end in -a (napravila). This is because the singular form dijete (child) is a neuter noun, so the plural djeca takes the neuter plural ending -a on the verb.
What is the difference between napravila and radila in this context?
Napravila is a perfective verb, which focuses on the completed result: the children finished making a mess, and now the mess is there. If you used radila (the imperfective version), it would mean they were in the process of making a mess or used to make messes.
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