Breakdown of Kolega mi je danas bolestan.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ja
I
danas
today
bolestan
sick
kolega
colleague (m)
Questions & Answers about Kolega mi je danas bolestan.
Why is the masculine adjective bolestan used when kolega ends in "-a"?
Even though kolega ends in "-a" and gets feminine noun endings when changing cases, it refers to a male person. Because its true gender is masculine, any adjectives describing it must take the masculine form. That is why we use bolestan instead of the feminine bolesna.
Why does the sentence use mi (to me) instead of moj (my) to say "my colleague"?
In Croatian, it is very common to use the dative pronoun (mi) to show possession or a close relationship, especially with family members, friends, colleagues, and body parts. Saying Moj kolega je danas bolestan is also perfectly correct, but Kolega mi je... sounds much more natural in everyday conversation.
Why are mi and je placed right after kolega?
Both mi and je are enclitics (unstressed words). Croatian has strict rules for enclitics: they must group together and usually take the second position in the sentence, which here is right after the first word, kolega. Furthermore, when multiple enclitics group together, a dative pronoun (mi) almost always comes before the 3rd-person verb (je).
Why is the adjective form bolestan and not bolesni?
When an adjective is used after a verb to describe the subject (like "is sick"), it generally takes the indefinite form. The masculine indefinite form is bolestan. The "a" at the end is a "movable a", meaning it drops out when you add endings, such as in the feminine bolesna or the definite masculine bolesni.
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