Breakdown of Velika ekonomska kriza trajala je tijekom tridesetih godina.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
velik
big
trajati
to last
godina
year
tijekom
during
kriza
crisis
ekonomski
economic
trideseti
thirtieth
Questions & Answers about Velika ekonomska kriza trajala je tijekom tridesetih godina.
Why is 'the thirties' translated as tridesetih godina?
In Croatian, decades are expressed using the ordinal number (here, trideseti for 'thirtieth') in the plural, followed by the word for 'years' (godine). In this sentence, both words are in the genitive plural (tridesetih godina), literally translating to 'of the thirtieth years'.
Why are tridesetih and godina in the genitive case here?
They are in the genitive case because they follow the preposition tijekom (during), which always requires the genitive. However, keep in mind that even without tijekom, you use the genitive plural on its own just to say 'in the thirties' (for example: Rođen je tridesetih godina - He was born in the thirties).
Do I always have to include godina when talking about decades, or could I just say tijekom tridesetih?
You can often drop godina in casual speech, and tijekom tridesetih will be perfectly understood as 'during the thirties'. However, keeping godina is the standard, complete way to phrase it, especially in formal writing.
Could the auxiliary verb je go right after the subject instead of after trajala?
Yes, you could absolutely say Velika ekonomska kriza je trajala... because the entire subject (Velika ekonomska kriza) counts as a single unit, allowing the enclitic je to take the second position. Placing it right after the main verb (trajala je) is just another very natural choice that cleanly separates the long subject phrase from the action.
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