Breakdown of Oni žele ulagati kako bi imali veći prihod.
kako
how
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
oni
they
željeti
to want
imati
to have
veći
bigger
ulagati
to invest (imperfective)
prihod
income
Questions & Answers about Oni žele ulagati kako bi imali veći prihod.
Why does this sentence use imali instead of the infinitive imati for 'to have'?
In English, we say 'in order to have', using the infinitive. However, in Croatian, purpose clauses with kako require the conditional mood, not an infinitive. The conditional is made by combining the helper word bi with the l-participle (the same verb form you use to build the past tense). Therefore, 'in order to have' becomes kako bi imali.
Why is the helper word bi used here for 'they'? Isn't bi only for he/she/it?
It is easy to mix this up! In the conditional mood, the helper word bi is used for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular (I, you, he/she/it) and the 3rd person plural (they). The only forms that are different are 'we' (bismo) and 'you all' (biste). Since the subject here is oni (they), bi is the correct form.
How do we know who the subject of the kako bi clause is?
Even though 'they' isn't explicitly repeated, the l-participle imali ends in -li, which tells us the subject is plural and masculine (or a mixed group). This perfectly matches the subject of the first clause, oni (they).
Could I use the perfective verb uložiti instead of ulagati?
Yes, but it would change the nuance of the sentence. Ulagati is the imperfective form, which suggests they want to invest continuously, regularly, or as a general strategy. If you used the perfective verb uložiti, it would sound like they want to make a specific, single, one-time investment.
What case is veći prihod and why didn't its ending change?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb imati (to have). Prihod (income) is a masculine inanimate noun (it's a concept/thing, not a living being). For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative form looks exactly like the nominative (dictionary) form. Veći is simply the comparative form of velik (big), meaning 'larger'.
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