Breakdown of Za Božić cijela obitelj dolazi kući.
kuća
house
obitelj
family (f)
dolaziti
to come
cijeli
whole
Božić
Christmas
Questions & Answers about Za Božić cijela obitelj dolazi kući.
Why do we use za here instead of na or u for "at Christmas"?
In Croatian, the preposition za followed by the accusative case is standard for holidays and festivals to mean "for" or "at the time of" that event. So za Božić translates to "for Christmas" or "at Christmas".
The noun obitelj ends in a consonant. Why does the adjective cijela have a feminine ending?
Even though obitelj ends in a consonant, it is actually a feminine noun. It belongs to a specific group of feminine nouns that end in a consonant (the i-declension). Because of this, adjectives describing it must take the feminine form, like cijela.
Since a family is multiple people, can I use the plural verb form like in some dialects of English?
No, in Croatian obitelj is strictly a grammatically singular noun. You must always use the third-person singular verb form dolazi, never the plural.
Because there is motion towards a destination, shouldn't it be u kuću instead of kući?
When you mean going "home" in a general sense, Croatian uses the special directional form kući (which is identical to the dative case of kuća). If you used u kuću, it would sound like they are physically stepping "into the house" rather than the abstract concept of coming home.
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