Breakdown of Tko je kriv za oštećenje na svemu ovome?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
tko
who
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
sav
all (of a whole) / everyone, all (people) / everything
kriv
guilty
za
for (+ accusative)
oštećenje
damage
Questions & Answers about Tko je kriv za oštećenje na svemu ovome?
Why do we use svemu ovome instead of sve ovo?
The preposition na (on) in this sentence requires the locative case to indicate where the damage is. We are referring to "all of this" as a general concept, which uses the neuter pronouns sve (all) and ovo (this). In the locative case, sve changes to svemu and ovo changes to ovome.
Why do we use the preposition na here instead of translating "to" or "of"?
While English speakers say "damage to" or "damage of", Croatian naturally expresses this as damage "on" something. Therefore, you will frequently see the noun oštećenje (damage) paired with na plus the locative case.
Why is the noun oštećenje not in the locative case like svemu ovome?
The word oštećenje is governed by the preposition za, not na. The expression biti kriv za (to be to blame for) requires the accusative case for the thing you are blamed for. Since oštećenje is a neuter noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative form.
If we know the suspected person is female, would we change kriv to kriva?
Not in this exact sentence. The question word tko (who) always grammatically acts as a masculine singular noun. Because of this, any adjectives or verbs attached directly to tko must take the masculine singular default form, which is why we use kriv.
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