Breakdown of Poslije zatvora tražio je pošten posao.
tražiti
to look for / to demand, request
posao
job / work
zatvor
prison
Questions & Answers about Poslije zatvora tražio je pošten posao.
Why is it zatvora instead of just zatvor?
The preposition poslije (after) always requires the noun that follows it to be in the genitive case. Therefore, the nominative zatvor (prison) takes the -a ending to become zatvora.
Could the enclitic je go before the verb, like Poslije zatvora je tražio...?
Yes, absolutely! Enclitics (like the auxiliary verb je) usually take the second position in a sentence. Treating the phrase Poslije zatvora as the first block makes ...je tražio perfectly correct. In the original sentence, there is an implied pause after zatvora, treating tražio as the first word of the main clause, which makes tražio je correct as well.
Why doesn't the adjective pošten (honest) have an accusative ending like poštenog?
Because posao (job) is a masculine inanimate noun (a non-living thing). In Croatian, the accusative case for masculine inanimate nouns and their adjectives is exactly the same as the nominative case. If he were looking for a living thing, like a dog (pas), you would use the animate ending: tražio je poštenog psa.
What is tricky about the noun posao if I need to use it in other cases?
The noun posao has a 'fleeting a' and a historical l that turned into an o at the end of the word. When you put it into most other cases, the a disappears and the end o reverts back to an l. For example, the genitive is posla and the nominative plural is poslovi.
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