Breakdown of Želim se osamiti u kolibi i ni s kim ne razgovarati.
tko
who
i
and (additive)
ne
no, not
željeti
to want
u
in, into
razgovarati
to talk
s
with
ni
neither, nor
osamiti se
to isolate oneself
koliba
cabin (hut)
Questions & Answers about Želim se osamiti u kolibi i ni s kim ne razgovarati.
Why is it ni s kim instead of s nikim?
When a negative pronoun like nitko (no one) is used with a preposition like s (with), the preposition goes right in the middle, splitting the ni- prefix from the rest of the word. Here, the pronoun is in the instrumental case (kim), so the preposition s splits it into ni s kim.
Why is there a ne before razgovarati if we already said ni s kim (with no one)?
Croatian requires double negation. Whenever you use a negative word like nitko or its split form ni s kim, the verb must also be negative. Literally, this sentence says 'I want to isolate myself... and with no one not to talk'.
Why is the reflexive pronoun se placed right after Želim instead of next to osamiti?
se is an enclitic, meaning it is a weak word that typically wants to be in the second position of a sentence or clause. Here, it naturally follows the first word Želim (I want), even though it belongs to the infinitive verb osamiti (to isolate oneself).
Why does koliba (cabin) change to kolibi here?
The preposition u (in) is being used to show a static location, which requires the locative case. For feminine nouns ending in -a like koliba, the ending changes to -i in the locative, giving us u kolibi.
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