Breakdown of Miševi su joj progrizli grede ispod krova.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
joj
to her
ispod
under
miš
mouse
krov
roof
progristi
to chew through
greda
beam
Questions & Answers about Miševi su joj progrizli grede ispod krova.
Why do we use the dative pronoun joj here if the mice didn't chew "to her"?
This is the dative of detriment. Instead of just saying "her beams" using a possessive pronoun (njezine grede), Croatian uses the dative joj to show that this action happened to her disadvantage. It translates well to the colloquial English phrase "the mice chewed through the beams on her."
How does the prefix pro- change the verb in progrizli?
The base verb is gristi, which means "to bite" or "to chew." Adding the prefix pro- gives the sense of passing completely through something. So, progristi specifically means "to chew through" something, making the action complete (perfective).
Why is the word for roof (krov) in the form krova?
The preposition ispod (under or underneath) always requires the noun that follows it to be in the genitive case. Since krov is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, it takes the -a ending in the genitive singular, becoming krova.
Why are su and joj placed right after Miševi?
Both su and joj are clitics, which are unstressed words that must go in the second position of a sentence. When you have multiple clitics together, the verbal clitic su must always come before the dative pronoun clitic joj.
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