Breakdown of Imamo problem s nestašnim djetetom.
dijete
child
problem
problem
imati
to have
sa
with (before certain consonants)
nestašan
mischievous
Questions & Answers about Imamo problem s nestašnim djetetom.
Why does the word for child change so drastically from dijete to djetetom?
The noun dijete (child) is highly irregular. In all singular cases except the nominative and accusative, the stem expands by adding -t-. Additionally, the long -ije- in the root shortens to -je-, giving us the new base djetet-. Finally, we add the standard neuter instrumental ending -om to get djetetom.
Why is the instrumental case used for djetetom here?
The preposition s (meaning "with") requires the instrumental case when it expresses association, company, or involvement. Since they are dealing with the child, dijete must take the instrumental form.
Why is the adjective nestašnim used instead of nestašnom, considering the noun ends in -om?
While djetetom takes the neuter noun ending -om, adjectives have their own set of endings and don't always simply copy the noun. In the instrumental case, masculine and neuter adjectives end in -im (or -jim). Therefore, the dictionary form nestašan (mischievous) becomes nestašnim to agree with the neuter instrumental noun.
Why do we use the short preposition s here instead of sa?
The longer form sa is only required as a pronunciation aid when the following word starts with the sibilant sounds s, š, z, or ž, or with certain tricky consonant clusters. Because nestašnim starts with an n, the basic short form s is perfectly fine to use.
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