Breakdown of Njegova bolest nije opasna.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
njegov
his
opasan
dangerous
bolest
illness
Questions & Answers about Njegova bolest nije opasna.
The word bolest ends in a consonant. Doesn't that usually make a noun masculine in Croatian?
Most of the time, yes! However, bolest belongs to a special group of nouns known as the "i-declension" (or feminine consonant-ending nouns). These are feminine nouns that end in a consonant instead of the typical -a. You will often see this with abstract nouns ending in -ost or -est.
If bolest doesn't end in -a, why do Njegova and opasna end in -a?
Because bolest is a feminine noun, any adjectives or pronouns describing it must take the feminine form. Even though the noun itself has an unusual consonant ending, the words attached to it follow standard feminine agreement rules. That is why we use the feminine Njegova (his) and opasna (dangerous).
This lesson is about the Nominative and Accusative cases. Which case is bolest in here, and would it change if it were the object of the sentence?
Here, bolest is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the Nominative case. If it were the direct object (Accusative case), the word bolest would stay exactly the same! For feminine consonant-ending nouns, the Nominative and Accusative singular forms are identical. But beware: the adjectives attached to it would change. For example, "He has a dangerous illness" is On ima opasnu bolest.
Is bolest related to the word for "pain"?
Yes, it is! It shares a root with bol (pain), which is actually another feminine consonant-ending noun. Adding the suffix -est or -ost to a root is a very common way to form abstract feminine nouns in Croatian.
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