Breakdown of Ponosiš li se svojim napretkom?
li
question particle
svoj
one's own
ponositi se
to be proud of
napredak
progress
Questions & Answers about Ponosiš li se svojim napretkom?
Why does this sentence use the instrumental case for svojim napretkom?
The verb ponositi se (to be proud) specifically requires the object you are proud of to be in the instrumental case. In English we use the preposition "of", but in Croatian, the verb directly takes the instrumental case without a preposition.
Why do we use svojim here instead of tvojim for the English word "your"?
You use the reflexive possessive pronoun svoj when the owner is the subject of the sentence. Since the subject is "you" (understood from the verb ponosiš) and the progress belongs to "you", you must use svojim instead of tvojim.
The dictionary word for progress is napredak, so how does it become napretkom?
This noun has a "fleeting a". When adding the instrumental ending -om, the final a drops out, changing the stem from napredak to napredk-. Then, the voiced consonant d changes to an unvoiced t to match the unvoiced k right next to it. So, napredk- + -om becomes napretkom.
Why is the reflexive pronoun se placed after the question particle li?