Learn Croatian: Želimo urediti sobu, pa je polica pored ormara. - We want to arrange the room, so the shelf is next to the wardrobe.

Želimo urediti sobu, pa je polica pored ormara.

We want to arrange the room, so the shelf is next to the wardrobe.

Breakdown of Želimo urediti sobu, pa je polica pored ormara.

Questions & Answers about Želimo urediti sobu, pa je polica pored ormara.

Why does the word for wardrobe end in "-a" (ormara) instead of its usual dictionary form ormar?

Because of the preposition pored (next to). In Croatian, spatial prepositions like pored, ispred (in front of), and iza (behind) require the noun that follows them to be in the genitive case. Since ormar is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, its genitive ending is -a.

Why is the word for room sobu instead of soba?

sobu is the accusative form of the feminine noun soba. It is used here because the room is the direct object of the verb urediti (to arrange). We are doing something to the room, so it takes the accusative case.

I often see "tako" translated as "so". Why is pa used here instead?

pa is a conjunction that means "so" as in "therefore" or "as a result" (We want to arrange the room, so as a result we put the shelf there). tako means "so" when describing how something is done (like "in this way") or when emphasizing an adjective (like "so big").

Why does the verb je (is) come right after pa instead of after polica (the shelf)?