Breakdown of Mislim da u bazenu pliva desetak dupina.
misliti
to think
u
in, into
bazen
pool (m)
plivati
to swim
da
that (conjunction)
desetak
about ten
dupin
dolphin
Questions & Answers about Mislim da u bazenu pliva desetak dupina.
What does the suffix -ak do in the word desetak?
Why is the verb pliva in the singular when there are multiple dolphins swimming?
In Croatian, quantity words ending in -ak (like desetak) act grammatically as singular nouns. Because the subject of the sentence is this singular word (a group of about ten), the verb must be in the third-person singular (pliva), rather than the plural (plivaju).
Why is the word for dolphins (dupina) in the genitive plural here?
Whenever you use an approximate quantity noun like desetak, the items being counted must be in the genitive plural. Literally, you are saying an about-ten of dolphins. So, the nominative dupini becomes the genitive plural dupina.
Why do we use the locative case u bazenu instead of the accusative u bazen?
The preposition u takes the locative case when describing a fixed location (where something is happening) and the accusative for a destination (motion towards). Since the dolphins are swimming around inside the pool rather than entering it from outside, we use the locative bazenu.
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