Breakdown of Usprkos svjetlosnom zagađenju, vidimo zvijezde.
vidjeti
to see
zvijezda
star
zagađenje
pollution
usprkos
despite
Questions & Answers about Usprkos svjetlosnom zagađenju, vidimo zvijezde.
Why is svjetlosnom zagađenju in the dative case?
The preposition usprkos means despite or in spite of, and it always requires the following noun phrase to be in the dative case. This turns the base phrase svjetlosno zagađenje into its dative form, svjetlosnom zagađenju.
Could I use unatoč instead of usprkos here?
Absolutely. Unatoč and usprkos are completely interchangeable synonyms. Both mean despite and both require the dative case, so you could perfectly say Unatoč svjetlosnom zagađenju, vidimo zvijezde without changing the meaning at all.
Why does the adjective svjetlosnom end in -om?
The noun it describes, zagađenje, is a neuter noun. Because usprkos forces the phrase into the dative case, the adjective must take the dative neuter ending, which is -om (or sometimes -emu).
What case is zvijezde in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the action—it is what we see (vidimo). The base feminine noun is zvijezda (star). For feminine nouns ending in -a, both the nominative plural and the accusative plural end in -e, so they look exactly the same!