Breakdown of Ovo upozorenje znači da je ovdje zabranjeno fotografirati životinje.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ovdje
here
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
značiti
to mean
životinja
animal
da
that (conjunction)
upozorenje
warning
zabranjen
forbidden
fotografirati
to photograph
Questions & Answers about Ovo upozorenje znači da je ovdje zabranjeno fotografirati životinje.
The lesson is about ne smjeti (must not). Could we use that here instead of zabranjeno?
Yes! Saying zabranjeno je fotografirati (it is forbidden to photograph) is a very common, formal alternative to using ne smjeti on official signs. You could completely rephrase this warning using the lesson's grammar: Ovo upozorenje znači da ovdje ne smijete fotografirati životinje (This warning means that you must not photograph animals here).
Why is zabranjeno in the neuter form if it's followed by životinje (feminine plural)?
The word zabranjeno doesn't describe the animals; it is part of the impersonal phrase zabranjeno je (it is forbidden). In Croatian, when you make general "it is..." statements without a specific subject, the adjective always takes the neuter singular form (ending in -o or -e).
Why does the little word je come right after da instead of later in the sentence?
The word je is an enclitic, meaning it is a "weak" word that needs to be in the second position of a sentence or clause. The conjunction da (that) starts a brand new clause here, so je immediately jumps into the second position right after it.
What case is životinje in this sentence and why?
It is in the accusative case because it acts as the direct object of the verb fotografirati (to photograph). For feminine nouns that end in -a in their base form (like životinja), the accusative plural ends in -e.
How do we know upozorenje is a neuter noun (requiring the neuter pronoun ovo)?
Nouns ending in -je are almost always neuter. These are very often verbal nouns (nouns created from verbs), just like how the verb upozoriti (to warn) becomes the noun upozorenje (a warning). Because it is neuter, it takes the neuter demonstrative pronoun ovo (this).
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