Breakdown of Ne smijemo unositi hranu i piće u muzej.
i
and (additive)
ne
no, not
u
in, into
muzej
museum (m)
hrana
food
smjeti
may, to be allowed to
unositi
to bring in
piće
drink
Questions & Answers about Ne smijemo unositi hranu i piće u muzej.
Wait, the lesson says 'smjeti' means 'to be allowed to'. Why is 'ne smijemo' translated as 'We must not' instead of 'We are not allowed to'?
Both translations are correct! While smjeti means 'to be allowed to', the negative ne smjeti means 'to not be allowed to'. In natural English, expressing that you are absolutely not allowed to do something is usually phrased as a strong prohibition: 'must not'.
Why do we use the imperfective verb unositi here instead of the perfective unijeti?
General rules and blanket prohibitions almost always use imperfective verbs in Croatian. Because the rule is that you can never bring food in (an ongoing, general state), we use the imperfective unositi.
Why does hrana change to hranu, but piće doesn't change?
Both words are in the accusative case because they are the direct objects of unositi (they are the things being brought). The feminine noun hrana takes the accusative -u ending. However, piće is a neuter noun, and neuter nouns always have the exact same form in the accusative as they do in the nominative.
Why is it u muzej and not u muzeju?
The preposition u takes the accusative case when describing motion toward a destination (bringing things into the museum). It only takes the locative case (u muzeju) when describing a static location (already being inside the museum). Since muzej is an inanimate masculine noun, its accusative form is identical to its nominative form.
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