Breakdown of Ne otvaraj ta vrata!
ne
no, not
vrata
door
taj
that (masculine)
otvarati
to open (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Ne otvaraj ta vrata!
Why do we use the verb form otvaraj here instead of otvori?
Because this is a negative command. In Croatian, negative commands almost always use the imperfective aspect. Otvaraj is the command form of the imperfective verb otvarati. If you wanted to say 'Open that door!' (a positive command), you would switch to the perfective verb otvoriti and say Otvori ta vrata!
Wait, doesn't ta usually mean 'that' for a feminine noun, or 'those' for neuter? Why use it for a single door?
The Croatian word for door, vrata, is a special type of noun that is always plural and always neuter, even when referring to just one single door. Because it is neuter plural, the matching word for 'that' must also be in the neuter plural form, which is ta.
What case is ta vrata in here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb (the thing you are being told not to open). For all neuter nouns, the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) case.
How is the command otvaraj formed from the dictionary verb otvarati?
To make a command, we usually look at the present tense. The normal 'you' form is otvaraš. When we drop the -š, we are left with a stem ending in a vowel (otvara-). To make it a command for one person, we just add -j, giving us otvaraj.