Breakdown of Kupit ću jedne nove traperice umjesto haljine.
nov
new
kupiti
to buy (perfective)
haljina
dress
umjesto
instead of
Questions & Answers about Kupit ću jedne nove traperice umjesto haljine.
Why do we use a plural form of "one" (jedne) here?
The word traperice (jeans) is a noun that only exists in the plural form, just like in English. To say "one pair of jeans", you must use a plural form of the number one. It takes the feminine plural form jedne to match traperice.
What case is jedne nove traperice in?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb kupiti (to buy). For feminine plural nouns and their adjectives, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form.
Why is it kupit ću instead of kupiti ću?
When forming the future tense in Croatian, if the infinitive verb comes directly before the helping verb (ću, ćeš, će, etc.), the final -i of the infinitive is dropped. Therefore, kupiti becomes kupit.
Why does haljina (dress) change to haljine here?
The preposition umjesto (instead of) always requires the following noun to be in the genitive case. Because haljina is a regular feminine singular noun, its genitive ending is -e, making it haljine.