Questions & Answers about U našem domu uvijek ima gostiju.
Why is ima used here if it usually means 'has'?
In Croatian, the verb imati (to have) is commonly used impersonally in the third-person singular (ima) to mean 'there is' or 'there are'. This is the standard way to state that something exists or is present somewhere.
Why is the word for guests (gostiju) in the genitive case?
When ima is used to mean 'there is' or 'there are', the noun that follows it must be in the genitive case. It expresses an unspecified quantity of something, similar to saying 'an amount of guests'.
The ending of gostiju looks unusual for the genitive plural. Why doesn't it end in -a?
The noun gost (guest) is irregular. While most masculine nouns take an -a ending in the genitive plural (for example, grad becomes gradova), gost takes the special ending -iju to become gostiju. Another common word that does this is prst (finger), which becomes prstiju.
What is the difference between using domu here instead of kući?
Both can translate to 'home', but dom (here in the locative case as domu after the preposition u) emphasizes the warm, emotional concept of a home or household. Kuća usually refers more literally to the physical building (a house).