Learn Croatian: Ovo je roman u kojem autor opisuje svoj život. - This is the novel in which the author describes his life.

Ovo je roman u kojem autor opisuje svoj život.

This is the novel in which the author describes his life.

Breakdown of Ovo je roman u kojem autor opisuje svoj život.

biti

to be (sam, si, je)

ovaj

this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)

in, into

život

life

Questions & Answers about Ovo je roman u kojem autor opisuje svoj život.

Why is the relative pronoun kojem used here?

Kojem is the locative case of the relative pronoun koji (which). We use the locative here because it follows the preposition u (in) to mean 'in which'. It takes the masculine singular form to match the noun it refers back to, which is roman (novel).

Could I say u kojemu instead of u kojem?

Yes! For the masculine and neuter locative forms of koji, you will often see both kojem and kojemu. They mean exactly the same thing, but kojem is a bit shorter and very common in everyday speech.

Why does the sentence use svoj instead of njegov for 'his'?

Svoj is a reflexive possessive pronoun that means 'one's own'. In Croatian, when the object belongs to the subject of the sentence (the author), you must use svoj. If you used njegov život, it would mean the author is describing some other man's life!

What case is svoj život in?

It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb opisuje (describes). Since život is a masculine inanimate noun (a thing, not a person or animal), its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative dictionary form.