Breakdown of Vjetar je nastavio puhati cijeli dan.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
dan
day
cijeli
whole
vjetar
wind
Questions & Answers about Vjetar je nastavio puhati cijeli dan.
Why is the verb puhati in its imperfective form here?
Because it comes directly after nastavio (continued). In Croatian, phase verbs that describe the start, continuation, or end of an action like nastaviti (to continue) must always be followed by an imperfective verb. You are focusing on the ongoing process of the wind blowing.
Does puhati literally mean blowing or to blow?
It is the infinitive form, meaning to blow. While English often uses the -ing form after phase verbs (continued blowing, started raining), Croatian uses the infinitive. We just translate it as blowing to make it sound natural in English.
Why does nastavio end in an -o?
It is the past tense (perfect) form of the verb nastaviti. The subject of the sentence is vjetar (wind). Because vjetar is a masculine noun, the past participle takes the masculine singular ending -o.
What case is cijeli dan (all day) in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case. When you want to express how long something lasted (duration of time), Croatian uses the accusative without a preposition. Because dan is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary form.