Breakdown of Nakon što su završili snimanje, počela je montaža.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
završiti
to finish
početi
to begin
nakon
after (+ genitive)
što
that (subordinating conjunction)
snimanje
filming
montaža
editing
Questions & Answers about Nakon što su završili snimanje, počela je montaža.
Why do we use nakon što instead of just nakon here?
Nakon is a preposition used directly with a noun, such as nakon snimanja (after the filming). Because we are connecting a full clause that contains a verb (su završili), we must use the conjunction nakon što.
Do we need a special past tense after nakon što to show that the filming happened first?
In modern Croatian, no. You can use the standard past tense (su završili) for the earlier action and the same standard past tense (počela je) for the later action. The phrase nakon što (after) already makes the timeline perfectly clear!
Why is the word order počela je montaža instead of montaža je počela?
Both are grammatically correct, but placing the verb first (počela) is a common stylistic choice to make the sentence flow dynamically after the comma. Notice that the short auxiliary verb je still takes its required second position in the new clause, landing right after počela.
What case is snimanje in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object being acted upon by the verb završili (they finished the filming). Snimanje is a neuter verbal noun, and for neuter nouns, the accusative form is identical to the nominative dictionary form.
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