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Questions & Answers about Tko mu ga je pokazao?
Why are there three short words (mu, ga, je) bunched together, and does their order matter?
Yes, their order is strictly fixed by Croatian clitic rules. These short, unstressed words must appear in a specific sequence. The dative pronoun (mu) comes first, followed by the accusative pronoun (ga). Finally, the auxiliary verb (je) comes last. Interestingly, je is the only auxiliary verb that goes after the pronouns; all other auxiliary clitics go before them!
Why are the clitics placed right after Tko?
Clitics in Croatian generally want to be in the second position of a sentence or clause. Since Tko is the first word, the entire cluster of clitics (mu ga je) neatly slots into the second position right behind it.
The English translation says 'showed it', but the sentence uses ga. Isn't ga usually 'him'?
The word ga is the accusative clitic for both 'him' and 'it' (when 'it' refers to a masculine or neuter noun). In Croatian, objects have gender. So if someone showed a masculine noun like a car (auto) or a neuter noun like a letter (pismo), you use ga. If they showed a feminine noun like a picture (slika), this would change to ju.
Why does the verb pokazao have a masculine ending if we don't know who showed it?