Breakdown of Ljudi su tridesetih godina bili vrlo siromašni.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ljudi
people
godina
year
siromašan
poor
vrlo
very (formal)
trideseti
thirtieth
Questions & Answers about Ljudi su tridesetih godina bili vrlo siromašni.
Why is tridesetih godina in the genitive case, and why isn't there a preposition for "in"?
In Croatian, decades are expressed using the genitive plural of the ordinal number (here, tridesetih from trideseti) plus the genitive plural of godina (years). When indicating a period of time, this genitive phrase functions on its own to mean "in the thirties" or "during the thirties" without needing an extra preposition like u.
Why are su and bili separated by the time phrase?
The auxiliary verb su is an enclitic, meaning it is unaccented and must strictly take the second position in the sentence. It lands right after the first word, Ljudi. The main verb bili doesn't have this restriction, so it usually comes later in the sentence, allowing the time expression tridesetih godina to fit naturally in between.
Why is the adjective siromašni in the masculine plural form if it refers to people in general?
The noun ljudi (people) is grammatically masculine plural, acting as the irregular plural for čovjek (human/man). Because it is grammatically masculine, all adjectives modifying it, such as siromašni, and the past participle bili, must also take the masculine plural ending.
How do I form the ordinal number trideseti to use in this decade structure?
You simply add standard adjective endings to the cardinal number trideset (thirty). So, "the thirtieth" is trideseti. To match the genitive plural structure required for expressing decades, you use the genitive plural ending -ih, which gives you tridesetih.
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