Breakdown of Dala je otkaz i otišla u Irsku.
dati
to give
otići
to leave, to go away
otkaz
notice, dismissal (dati otkaz = to quit; dobiti otkaz = to be fired)
Questions & Answers about Dala je otkaz i otišla u Irsku.
Why does Dala je otkaz mean "she quit" when otkaz usually relates to getting fired?
In Croatian, the phrase dati otkaz literally means "to give notice" or "to give resignation," which translates as "to quit." If you want to say someone was fired, you would use dobiti otkaz (literally, "to get/receive a firing").
Why isn't there a second je before otišla? Shouldn't it be Dala je otkaz i otišla je?
You don't need to repeat the auxiliary verb je when you have multiple past tense verbs connected by i (and) that share the same subject. The single je applies to both dala and otišla, making the sentence flow more naturally.
Ireland is Irska. Why does it change to Irsku here?
The sentence expresses motion toward a destination ("went to Ireland"), so the preposition u requires the accusative case. For a feminine noun ending in -a like Irska, the accusative ending is -u. If she were already living in Ireland (location rather than motion), you would use the locative case: u Irskoj.
Could I use išla instead of otišla to say "she went"?
You could, but otišla (from the perfective verb otići) is much more natural here. Otići specifically means to leave a place and go somewhere else, focusing on the completed result. Ići is imperfective and focuses on the general process of traveling, which doesn't fit as well for a definitive move abroad.
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