Breakdown of Morate istezati mišiće ramena i leđa.
i
and (additive)
morati
must
leđa
back (body part)
rame
shoulder
istezati
to stretch
mišić
muscle
Questions & Answers about Morate istezati mišiće ramena i leđa.
Wait, isn't the word for shoulder rame? Where did the -n- come from in ramena?
The dictionary form is indeed rame, which is a neuter noun. However, a special group of neuter nouns ending in -e (like rame, ime, and vrijeme) expand their base by adding an -n- in all other cases. Since we need the genitive case here, we take the expanded stem ramen- and add the genitive ending -a.
Why are ramena and leđa in the genitive case in this sentence?
They are in the genitive case to express the English word "of" or to show possession. Because you are stretching the muscles of the shoulder (ramena) and of the back (leđa), both body parts must take the genitive case.
Why is the word for muscles mišiće and not mišići?
Mišić is a regular masculine noun. While mišići is the nominative plural (used when muscles are the subject of the sentence), here the muscles are the direct object of the verb istezati (to stretch). The accusative plural ending for masculine nouns is -e, making it mišiće.
If leđa (back) is also in the genitive case, why doesn't its form change?
Leđa is a neuter plural noun—it actually doesn't have a singular form in Croatian. For neuter nouns in the plural, the genitive ending is -a. This means the genitive plural ends up looking exactly the same in writing as the nominative plural (leđa).
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