Breakdown of Tvoje tijelo treba proteine.
tvoj
your (informal)
trebati
to need / should (ought to)
tijelo
body
protein
protein
Questions & Answers about Tvoje tijelo treba proteine.
Why is the word for "your" Tvoje instead of Tvoj?
Tvoje matches the gender and case of tijelo (body). In Croatian, tijelo is a neuter noun, so in the nominative case (as the subject of the sentence), the possessive word "your" must take the neuter form tvoje.
What case is proteine in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb treba (needs). Since protein is a masculine noun, its plural accusative form ends in -e, making it proteine.
How would this sentence change if I wanted to use the new lesson's grammar to say "Your body needs too many proteins"?
You would say Tvoje tijelo treba previše proteina. When you add an adverb of excess like previše (too much/too many), the noun that follows it must change to the genitive case. The genitive plural of protein is proteina.
I sometimes see trebati (to need) used with the dative case, like Meni treba. Why isn't it used here?
The verb trebati is very flexible. When the object of the need is a direct noun (like proteins), it is usually used as a standard personal verb where the subject is in the nominative case (Tvoje tijelo) and the thing needed is in the accusative case (proteine).
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