Breakdown of Njezinoj majci je osamdeset godina i još je vitalna; to je genetika.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
to
that
i
and (additive)
još
yet, still / another, one more
majka
mother
godina
year
njezin
her
osamdeset
eighty
vitalan
vital
genetika
genetics
Questions & Answers about Njezinoj majci je osamdeset godina i još je vitalna; to je genetika.
Why is 'Her mother' translated as Njezinoj majci (Dative) instead of Njezina majka (Nominative)?
This is the standard way to express age in Croatian. Instead of saying someone 'is' or 'has' a certain age, Croatian uses the Dative case for the person (the 'experiencer'). You are literally saying 'To her mother is eighty years.'
Why is the verb je singular when we are talking about eighty years?
In Croatian grammar, numbers 5 and above behave in a special way. They require the noun to be in the genitive plural (which is why we have godina), but they act grammatically as a single neuter singular unit. Therefore, they always take the 3rd person singular verb je, no matter how large the number is.
If the mother was in the Dative case (majci) earlier, why is vitalna in the Nominative case?
The sentence is made of two separate clauses joined by i (and). The first clause uses the Dative rule for age. In the second clause (još je vitalna), the implied subject is simply 'she' (ona). Because 'she' is the grammatical subject of this new clause, the adjective describing her must be Nominative feminine singular.
Could I say Svojoj majci je osamdeset godina instead?
No, you cannot use svojoj here. The possessive pronoun svoj means 'one's own' and refers back to the main subject of the sentence doing an action. Here, 'her mother' is the main topic being discussed, not the object of someone else's action, so you must use the standard possessive njezinoj (her).
Learn Njezinoj majci je osamdeset godina i još je vitalna; to je genetika and more in Croatian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free