Breakdown of Uvijek se možete obratiti našim radnicima.
uvijek
always
radnik
worker
moći
can
naš
our
obratiti se
to turn to
Questions & Answers about Uvijek se možete obratiti našim radnicima.
Why is našim radnicima in the dative case here instead of the accusative?
The verb obratiti se (to turn to, to contact) is a verb that requires its object to be in the dative case. In English, you turn to someone, and in Croatian, that sense of direction is handled by putting the recipients (našim radnicima) into the dative.
Why do we need the word se here?
The verb meaning to contact or to turn to is inherently reflexive in Croatian: obratiti se. Without se, the verb obratiti means to process or to convert something, which completely changes the meaning!
The word for worker is radnik. Why is it spelled with a c in radnicima?
This is a spelling rule you might remember from earlier lessons: when a masculine noun ends in k, it changes to c before the plural vowel i. So radnik becomes the plural radnici. To make it dative plural, we just add -ma to get radnicima.
Why does se come right after Uvijek instead of next to the verb?
The word se is an enclitic, which means it is a weak word that strictly belongs in the second position of the sentence. Because Uvijek is the first word, se must immediately follow it, even though the verbs možete obratiti come later.
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