Breakdown of Samo su jedna vrata u zgradi otvorena.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
zgrada
building
otvoren
open
samo
only
Questions & Answers about Samo su jedna vrata u zgradi otvorena.
Why does the sentence use the plural form jedna instead of the singular jedno for 'one'?
In Croatian, the word for 'door', vrata, is grammatically a plural noun (specifically, neuter plural), even when talking about a single physical door. Because of this, any numbers or adjectives describing it must also take the neuter plural form. That is why we use jedna instead of the singular jedno.
Why are the plural verb su and plural adjective otvorena used if the English translation is singular ('is open')?
Since vrata is grammatically a plural noun, the entire sentence has to agree with it. You must use the plural verb su (are) and the neuter plural adjective otvorena (open), even though in English we treat a single door as singular.
Why is the verb su placed right after Samo instead of next to vrata?
The word su is an enclitic, which is a 'weak' word that lacks its own accent and naturally needs to sit in the second position of a sentence. Here, it takes the second spot right after the first word, Samo.
Why is the word for building, zgrada, written as zgradi here?
It is in the locative case because it follows the preposition u (in) to describe a static location. For feminine nouns ending in -a like zgrada, the locative case ending is -i.