Breakdown of Čuvaj se onog strašnog klauna.
strašan
scary / terrible, awful
onaj
that (over there) / the one (who)
čuvati se
to beware of
klaun
clown
Questions & Answers about Čuvaj se onog strašnog klauna.
Why is onog strašnog klauna in the genitive case here?
The verb čuvati se (to beware of, to watch out for) is one of those verbs that forces its object into the genitive case. This is exactly like bojati se (to be afraid of) and sjećati se (to remember), which you are focusing on in this lesson.
Wait, doesn't the ending -a on klauna and -og on onog just mean it's an animate masculine noun in the accusative case?
It is true that for masculine living things (animate nouns), the accusative and genitive case endings look exactly the same. However, grammatically, this is strictly the genitive case because the verb čuvati se always demands the genitive, regardless of whether the noun is animate or inanimate.
Why do we need se here? What happens if I just say Čuvaj?
The se completely changes the meaning of the verb. Without it, čuvati means to keep, to guard, or to protect, and it takes a regular accusative object (for example, Čuvaj mog psa means Protect my dog). When you add se, it becomes čuvati se, which means to beware of, and it requires the genitive case.
The dictionary form of the adjective for scary is strašan. Why does the 'a' disappear in strašnog?
This is a classic example of the fleeting a (nepostojano a). Many masculine adjectives ending in -an drop that final a as soon as you add any case ending. Therefore, strašan correctly becomes strašnog in the genitive, rather than strašanog.
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