Breakdown of To nije prazno selo, nego tamo ću kupiti staro imanje.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
tamo
there
to
that
selo
village
star
old
prazan
empty
kupiti
to buy (perfective)
ću
will (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će)
nego
than
imanje
estate
Questions & Answers about To nije prazno selo, nego tamo ću kupiti staro imanje.
Why is the clitic ću placed after tamo and not right after nego?
Clitics usually take the second position in a clause. However, coordinating conjunctions like a, ali, nego, and ili are invisible to this rule and do not count as the first position. Therefore, the counting of the clause starts with tamo as position one, making ću the correct second position.
Could I change the word order to nego ću tamo kupiti?
No, because that would break the second-position rule for clitics. Since nego does not count as a position, placing ću right after it would leave the clitic stranded in the first position of the clause, which is strictly forbidden. The clitic must lean on a preceding word that actually counts, like tamo.
Why use nego instead of ali for the word but?
You use nego when the first part of the sentence is negative (as in To nije prazno selo) and the second part offers a contrasting alternative, replacement, or correction. If the first clause were a positive statement, you would use ali instead.
Why does staro imanje look like it is in the nominative case when it is the object being bought?
It is actually in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb kupiti. However, imanje is a neuter noun, and in Croatian, neuter nouns and their matching adjectives always have identical nominative and accusative forms.
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