Breakdown of Vjeran sluga se ne skriva.
ne
no, not
skrivati se
to hide
vjeran
loyal (faithful)
sluga
servant
Questions & Answers about Vjeran sluga se ne skriva.
Why does sluga get the masculine adjective vjeran if it ends in '-a'?
Even though sluga ends in '-a' like most feminine nouns, it refers to a male person (a servant). Because its inherent gender is masculine, any adjectives attached to it must use their masculine forms. That is why we use the masculine vjeran instead of the feminine vjerna.
Could I say vjerni sluga instead of vjeran sluga?
You could, but it changes the meaning slightly. Vjeran is the indefinite masculine adjective form, translating to 'a loyal servant' or any loyal servant in general. Vjerni is the definite form, which would mean 'the loyal servant' (a specific person).
Why is the word se used with skriva?
In Croatian, the verb skrivati se is reflexive when someone is hiding themselves. If you left out se, the verb skriva would need a direct object, meaning the servant is hiding something else (like a document or an object).
Why is the enclitic se placed after sluga and not after vjeran?
Enclitics like se generally want to sit in the second grammatical position. While vjeran is technically the first word, the adjective and noun vjeran sluga work together tightly as a single noun phrase or 'block' of information. Placing se after this entire block is the most natural word order here.
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