Question 1

Why is it neću poslušati with the full infinitive, but odbit ću drops the 'i'?

Accepted Answer

In the affirmative future tense, when the infinitive comes before the auxiliary verb (ću), verbs ending in -ti drop the final i. That is why odbiti becomes odbit ću. However, in the negative future tense, the negative auxiliary (neću) usually comes first. Because the infinitive poslušati comes after the auxiliary, it keeps its full dictionary form.

Question 2

Why use poslušati here instead of just slušati?

Accepted Answer

Slušati means to listen as an ongoing action, like listening to the radio. Poslušati is the completed (perfective) version, which often translates to obeying, complying, or taking someone's advice. Here, the speaker means they will not obey the director's specific instruction, rather than simply refusing to hear his voice.

Question 3

Both taj posao and direktora are direct objects. Why does direktora get an -a ending while posao doesn't change?

Accepted Answer

They are both masculine nouns in the accusative case, but Croatian treats living things differently than inanimate objects. For inanimate masculine nouns like posao, the accusative form looks exactly like the nominative (dictionary) form. For animate masculine nouns like direktor, the accusative takes the -a ending.

Question 4

I sometimes see the word for job written as posla. Why is it posao here?

Accepted Answer

Posao is a masculine noun with a fleeting 'a', meaning the a disappears in most other grammatical cases (like the genitive form, posla). However, because posao is an inanimate object, its accusative form is identical to its nominative form. Therefore, it stays posao when used as the direct object.

Odbit ću taj posao jer neću poslušati direktora.

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