Question 1

Why do we use Kakav here instead of Kako to say "What a..."?

Accepted Answer

In Croatian, you use a form of kakav when you are exclaiming about a noun phrase (here, nevjerojatan prizor). Because it modifies a noun, it acts like an adjective and must agree in gender, number, and case (masculine singular nominative). You would use kako if you were exclaiming about an adjective or adverb on its own, like Kako nevjerojatno! (How incredible!).

Question 2

Why is the adjective nevjerojatan used here instead of the definite form nevjerojatni?

Accepted Answer

In exclamations introducing a new observation, you are saying "What an incredible sight!" rather than "the incredible sight". Therefore, we use the indefinite form of the masculine adjective. To form this, we drop the final -i from the definite form and insert a fleeting 'a' before the last consonant to make it easier to pronounce, giving us nevjerojatan instead of nevjerojatni.

Question 3

Opasnost ends in a consonant. Why does it use the feminine adjective veća?

Accepted Answer

While most Croatian nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, there is a very important group of feminine nouns that end in a consonant. The most common ones end in the suffix -ost, like opasnost (danger), radost (joy), or budućnost (future). Since opasnost is feminine, the adjective describing it must be the feminine veća.

Question 4

Is veća related to the word velik (big)?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Veća is the feminine comparative form of velik (big or great). Velik has an irregular comparative: veći for masculine, veća for feminine, and veće for neuter. So Opasnost je veća literally means the danger is bigger or greater.

Kakav nevjerojatan prizor! Opasnost je veća.

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