Learn Croatian: Njihov odnos je kompliciraniji nego nekada. - Their relationship is more complicated than before.

You have learned that od + genitive is used to say 'than' (like veći od tebe - bigger than you). However, od only works with nouns and pronouns. Here, we are comparing the relationship now to how it was in the past using the adverb nekada (before). When comparing with adverbs, verbs, or full phrases, you must use nego.

I thought nekada meant 'sometimes'. Why does it mean 'before' here?

Nekada is a versatile adverb. While it often means 'sometimes', in contexts dealing with time comparison or nostalgia, it means 'once', 'formerly', or 'in the past'. So nego nekada means 'than in the past' or 'than before'.

How do we form the comparative word kompliciraniji?

The base adjective is kompliciran (complicated). For most longer adjectives, you form the comparative by adding -iji for masculine, -ija for feminine, and -ije for neuter nouns. Since odnos (relationship) is a masculine noun, we use the masculine form kompliciraniji.

If nego requires a matching case, what case is nekada in?