Breakdown of Zimi idemo po djecu u školu.
škola
school
u
in, into
ići
to go
djeca
children
po
for (to fetch)
zimi
in the winter
Questions & Answers about Zimi idemo po djecu u školu.
Why is it zimi instead of u zimi to say "in the winter"?
Zimi is a temporal adverb specifically meaning "in the winter" or "during the winter". While you might use prepositions with the noun form, seasons like winter (zima) and summer (ljeto) have these special one-word adverb forms (zimi, ljeti) to describe when an action happens.
Why do we use the preposition po here? Doesn't it mean "after"?
It does often mean "after", but when po is used with a verb of motion (like idemo) and followed by the accusative case, it means "to go get" or "to fetch". So idemo po djecu is the standard way to say "we are going to pick up the children".
Why is djeca (children) written as djecu here?
The preposition po in the sense of "fetching" requires the accusative case. The noun djeca is a collective noun that declines exactly like a singular feminine noun ending in -a. Therefore, its accusative form changes the -a to -u, making it djecu.
The translation says "at school", so why use the accusative u školu instead of the locative u školi?
In Croatian, the grammar follows the action of the verb. Since the main verb is idemo (we go), there is motion towards a destination. Motion towards a place requires u + accusative (u školu). If you were already inside the building waiting, you would use the locative u školi.
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