Word
Dobio sam poklon od starijeg brata.
Meaning
I got a present from my older brother.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Dobio sam poklon od starijeg brata.
Why is the ending for older '-eg' in starijeg instead of the usual '-og'?
Adjectives usually take the -og or -oga ending in the Genitive case for masculine nouns. However, because the comparative adjective stariji ends in the soft consonant j, the ending changes to -eg. This is a general rule in Croatian: stems ending in soft consonants (like j, č, ć, š, ž, nj, lj) take -eg instead of -og.
What case is used for starijeg brata and why?
It is in the Genitive case. The preposition od (meaning 'from') always requires the noun phrase that follows it to be in the Genitive case.
The translation says 'my older brother', but there is no word for 'my' in the Croatian sentence. Is it implied?
Yes, exactly! In Croatian, possessive pronouns like moj (my) are frequently left out when talking about close family members or body parts, as long as the context makes it obvious whose brother it is. You could say od svog starijeg brata, but leaving it out is very common and sounds natural.
Why does poklon look like it's in the dictionary form even though it is the direct object?