Breakdown of Nakon što je producent pročitao scenarij, počeli smo snimanje.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
početi
to begin
pročitati
to read (perfective)
nakon
after (+ genitive)
što
that (subordinating conjunction)
producent
producer
scenarij
script
snimanje
filming
Questions & Answers about Nakon što je producent pročitao scenarij, počeli smo snimanje.
Why do we use nakon što here instead of just nakon?
Nakon by itself is a preposition that must be followed by a noun in the genitive case. Because we are introducing a full clause with a subject and a verb (je producent pročitao), we have to use the conjunction form nakon što.
In English we often use the past perfect here (After the producer had read...). Does Croatian have a past perfect tense for this?
Croatian does have a past perfect tense, but it is rarely used in everyday speech. Instead, Croatian relies on the standard past tense combined with a perfective verb (pročitao). The phrase nakon što already makes the sequence of events perfectly clear without needing a complicated tense.
Could we use the imperfective verb čitao instead of pročitao?
Not in this context. The filming started only after the reading was fully finished. Pročitati is the perfective aspect, which shows completion. If you used čitao, it would imply an ongoing process, which clashes with the logic of one event strictly following the completion of another.
Why doesn't the word scenarij change its ending, since it is the direct object?
It actually is in the accusative case here! Scenarij is a masculine inanimate noun. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative case form is completely identical to the nominative (dictionary) form.
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