Breakdown of Kvar je bio nastao prije našeg polaska.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
prije
before, earlier
naš
our
kvar
malfunction
polazak
departure (starting a journey, setting off)
nastati
to arise
Questions & Answers about Kvar je bio nastao prije našeg polaska.
How do the verbs combine to mean "had occurred" in je bio nastao?
This is the pluperfect tense, which describes an action that happened before another past action. It is formed by using the past tense of the helper verb biti (to be) along with the past participle of the main verb. Here, je bio is the past tense of biti, and nastao is the past participle of nastati (to arise/occur). Together, they form "had occurred".
Could I say kvar se bio dogodio instead of kvar je bio nastao?
Yes, you could, and it would be perfectly understood. However, nastati (to arise, emerge, or originate) is a very natural choice in Croatian when talking about faults, problems, or conditions forming. While dogoditi se is used for events that "happen", nastati focuses on a new state coming into existence.
Why are našeg and polaska in the genitive case here?
This is because of the preposition prije (before). In Croatian, prije is a preposition of time that always requires the following noun and its attached pronouns or adjectives to be in the genitive case.
The dictionary form for "departure" is polazak. Why does it become polaska instead of polazaka?
This happens because of a rule called the "fleeting a". In many masculine Croatian nouns ending in -ak, the -a- drops out when you add a case ending. Therefore, polazak becomes polaska in the genitive singular.
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