Breakdown of Prije spavanja uvijek čitam knjigu.
knjiga
book
čitati
to read
uvijek
always
prije
before, earlier
Questions & Answers about Prije spavanja uvijek čitam knjigu.
How is the word spavanje (sleeping) formed from the verb spavati?
To create a verbal noun, you generally take the imperfective verb stem and add the suffix -nje. For spavati, it becomes the neuter noun spavanje. These nouns describe the act or process of doing the verb.
Why is it spelled as spavanja in this sentence?
The preposition prije (before) always requires the noun following it to be in the genitive case. Because spavanje is a neuter noun, its genitive ending is -a, turning it into spavanja.
Could I just use the verb and say prije spavati or prije spavam instead?
No, in Croatian you cannot use an infinitive or a conjugated verb directly after the preposition prije. You must use a noun. This is exactly why verbal nouns ending in -nje are so useful!
Just to review, why does knjiga change to knjigu here?
The word knjigu is the direct object receiving the action of the verb čitam (I read), so it takes the accusative case. Feminine nouns that end in -a in their base form change that ending to -u in the accusative case.