Questions & Answers about Živjeli mladenci!
Why is Živjeli used here without an auxiliary verb (like su)?
This is the optative mood, which is used for fixed wishes, toasts, and curses. In Croatian, you form it by using the bare l-participle (the same form used to make the past tense) completely on its own, dropping the auxiliary verb. Here, it translates to 'Long live' or 'Cheers to'.
Why is it Živjeli and not Živio or Živjela?
The l-participle must agree in gender and number with the subject of the wish. Mladenci (newlyweds) is a masculine plural noun, so the verb takes the masculine plural form živjeli. If you were toasting a single male, you would say Živio!, and for a single female, Živjela!.
Is mladenci in the vocative case since we are cheering for them?
Actually, mladenci is in the nominative case here. Even though it is a toast, the optative structure treats the newlyweds as the grammatical subject of the verb (literally: 'May the newlyweds live').
Where does the word mladenci come from?
It comes from the adjective mlad (young). While it literally implies 'the young ones', mladenci is the specific and standard Croatian word for 'newlyweds' or 'the bride and groom'.
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