Breakdown of Nakon što smo snimili prvi kadar, bili smo vrlo sretni.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
sretan
happy
prvi
first (masculine)
nakon
after (+ genitive)
vrlo
very (formal)
što
that (subordinating conjunction)
snimiti
to film / to record
kadar
shot
Questions & Answers about Nakon što smo snimili prvi kadar, bili smo vrlo sretni.
Why do we use nakon što instead of just nakon?
Nakon is a preposition used directly before nouns (like 'after the movie'). When you introduce a full clause that contains a verb (like 'after we filmed'), you must use the conjunction nakon što.
Why does the verb order flip from smo snimili to bili smo after the comma?
This is the strict Croatian 'second position' rule in action. In the first clause, the short verb smo naturally falls after the conjunction nakon što. However, the comma starts a brand new main clause. Because a sentence or clause can never start with a clitic like smo, the main verb bili has to go first to give smo its required second-position spot.
Why is the perfective verb snimili used here instead of the imperfective form?
The action of filming the first shot had to be completely finished before the team felt happy about it. The phrase nakon što almost always pairs with perfective verbs because it naturally sets up a sequence where one fully completed event happens before the next.
Is prvi kadar (the first shot) in the accusative case here? It looks like the dictionary form.
Yes, it is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the filming. Because kadar is an inanimate masculine noun, its accusative form is exactly identical to its nominative (dictionary) form.
Why does the adjective sretni (happy) end in -i?
It refers to 'we', which is implied by the verb smo. Since 'we' is plural, the adjective takes the plural ending -i. This specific ending tells us the group is either all male or a mix of men and women. If it were a group of only women, it would be sretne.
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