Breakdown of Navodi se da je ministar bolestan.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
bolestan
sick
sebe
oneself (stressed reflexive)
da
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about Navodi se da je ministar bolestan.
Why do we use Navodi se instead of a true passive like Je navedeno?
Navodi se is an impersonal reflexive construction, which is the most natural way in Croatian to say 'It is stated' or 'They state' when reporting news or rumors. While a passive with a participle (like je navedeno) exists, Croatian strongly prefers the se construction for general, ongoing reporting.
The verb navoditi often means 'to cite' or 'to list'. How does it translate to 'is stated' here?
In news or formal contexts, navoditi is frequently used to mean 'to state', 'to allege', or 'to report'. Therefore, the impersonal navodi se effectively means 'it is alleged' or 'sources state'.
Why does the auxiliary verb je come right after da, rather than after the noun ministar?
The conjunction da acts as a 'clitic host'. Because je is an enclitic (a weak word with no accent of its own), it must take the second position in its specific clause. Therefore, it tucks in immediately after da, giving us ...da je ministar... instead of ...da ministar je....
Why is the adjective bolestan (indefinite) used here instead of bolesni (definite)?