Breakdown of Što je taj antikvitet i odakle dolazi?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
što
what
i
and (additive)
odakle
from where
dolaziti
to come
taj
that (masculine)
antikvitet
antique
Questions & Answers about Što je taj antikvitet i odakle dolazi?
Could I use otkud instead of odakle in this sentence?
Yes, you can. Both odakle and otkud mean "where from" and are largely interchangeable in sentences asking about origin. Otkud is slightly more colloquial, and it can also sometimes mean "how come?" in other contexts, but here either one works perfectly.
Do I need to add a preposition like od or iz to say "from where"?
No, the "from" is already built into the word! The prefix od- in odakle literally means "from", while the -akle part relates to "where". Adding another preposition like od or iz before odakle would be redundant and incorrect.
Why is the imperfective verb dolazi used here rather than a perfective form?
When asking about someone's or something's permanent origin (where they "come from"), Croatian always uses the imperfective verb dolaziti. Using the perfective doći (like dođe) would change the meaning to a specific, one-time arrival: "Where will it arrive from?".
I usually see to je for "that is". Why is it taj antikvitet here?
If you were just pointing and asking "What is that?", you'd use the neutral Što je to?. However, here "that" is directly attached to the masculine noun antikvitet ("that antique"), so the demonstrative pronoun has to agree with it, becoming the masculine taj.
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