Breakdown of Čujete skuter kako prolazi pokraj kafića.
čuti
to hear
pokraj
next to
kafić
café
prolaziti
to pass (imperfective)
kako
(after perception verbs) -ing / that
skuter
scooter
Questions & Answers about Čujete skuter kako prolazi pokraj kafića.
Why do we use kako here instead of a participle or the word da to say 'passing'?
With verbs of perception like čuti (to hear) or vidjeti (to see), Croatian uses kako followed by a present tense verb to express an action in progress. It literally translates to 'You hear a scooter how it passes', which is the natural way to translate the English '-ing' form (like 'passing') in this context.
Is skuter the subject of the sentence, since it looks like it is in the nominative case?
No, the subject is a dropped 'Vi' (You). Skuter is the direct object of čujete, so it is in the accusative case. Because skuter is a masculine inanimate noun (a non-living thing), its accusative form is identical to its nominative form.
Why is the verb prolazi in the imperfective aspect here?
When using the kako + present tense structure to describe what you see or hear happening, you almost always need an imperfective verb. This is because you are witnessing the action as it unfolds ('passing'), rather than focusing on a single completed event.
What case does the preposition pokraj require, and how does it affect the word kafić?
The preposition pokraj (meaning by, next to, or past) always takes the genitive case. The noun kafić (cafe) is masculine, so it takes the standard masculine genitive ending -a to become kafića.
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