Learn Croatian: Prije svega moramo sortirati odjeću. - First of all, we must sort the clothes.

Prije svega moramo sortirati odjeću.

First of all, we must sort the clothes.

Breakdown of Prije svega moramo sortirati odjeću.

above all, first of all

Questions & Answers about Prije svega moramo sortirati odjeću.

Why do we use svega here instead of the base form sve?

The preposition prije (before) always requires the Genitive case. Svega is the Genitive form of the neuter pronoun sve (everything).

Does prije svega literally mean "first of all"?

Literally, it translates to "before everything". It is the standard fixed phrase in Croatian used to mean "first of all" or "above all".

The English translation says "clothes", which is plural. Why is odjeću in the singular form?

In Croatian, odjeća is a collective noun meaning "clothing" or "clothes". It is grammatically a feminine singular noun, which is why it takes the singular Accusative ending -u here as the direct object of sortirati.

Could I say moramo da sortiramo instead of moramo sortirati?

While you might hear the "da + present tense" structure in some neighboring languages, standard Croatian strongly prefers using the infinitive (sortirati) directly after a modal verb like morati (must).