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Questions & Answers about Čekamo taksi ispred hotela; bez taksija ne idemo.
Why is the word for taxi taksi in the first part of the sentence, but taksija in the second part?
In the first part, taksi is the direct object of čekamo (we are waiting for), so it is in the accusative case. Because it is an inanimate masculine noun, the accusative form is the same as the dictionary form. In the second part, it follows the preposition bez (without), which requires the genitive case, changing it to taksija.
Why does the genitive form taksija have a 'j' added to it?
Taksi is a foreign loanword that ends in the vowel -i. In Croatian, when you add case endings that start with a vowel to words like this (such as the genitive ending -a), a j is inserted between the vowels to make pronunciation smoother and avoid two vowels awkwardly sitting together.
Why does hotel become hotela in this sentence?
It follows the preposition ispred (in front of). This preposition always forces the noun that follows it into the genitive case. Therefore, the masculine noun hotel adds the standard genitive ending -a.
The English translation says 'waiting for a taxi'. Is there a Croatian word for 'for' missing before taksi?
No, there is no missing preposition. In Croatian, the verb čekati (to wait) takes a direct object in the accusative case. You literally say 'we are waiting a taxi', so no extra word is needed.