Breakdown of Mikrofoni su negdje u studiju, ali gdje je ton-majstor?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
gdje
where
ali
but (strong contrast)
u
in, into
Questions & Answers about Mikrofoni su negdje u studiju, ali gdje je ton-majstor?
Why is there a "j" in u studiju? Doesn't the word studio just end in "o"?
Yes, the basic dictionary form is studio. However, masculine loan words that end in -io (like studio or radio) insert a j between the stem and the case endings to make pronunciation natural. Because it is in the locative case here after the preposition u (in), it takes the -u ending, becoming u studiju rather than "u studiu".
ton-majstor is a hyphenated compound word. If I need to use it in another case, do both halves change?
No, only the second part of the word (majstor) changes its ending. The first part (ton) stays exactly as it is. For example, if you wanted to say "I see the sound engineer" using the accusative case, you would say "Vidim ton-majstora."
How does the word negdje (somewhere) relate to gdje (where)?
In Croatian, adding the prefix ne- to a question word turns it into an indefinite word, usually translating to "some-" in English. Just like što (what) becomes nešto (something) and tko (who) becomes netko (someone), the question word gdje (where) becomes negdje (somewhere).
Why is the verb su placed right after Mikrofoni?