Breakdown of Četrdesetih je godina počeo rat u kojem su mnogi umrli.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
u
in, into
početi
to begin
godina
year
koji
which
umrijeti
to die
rat
war
mnogi
many (adjective)
četrdeseti
fortieth
Questions & Answers about Četrdesetih je godina počeo rat u kojem su mnogi umrli.
Why is the enclitic je placed right in the middle of četrdesetih godina?
In Croatian, enclitics like the auxiliary verb je typically go in the second position of a clause. Often, this means right after the very first word. Even though četrdesetih godina (in the forties) is a single phrase, the enclitic smoothly splits it, coming right after četrdesetih. You could also put it after the whole phrase (Četrdesetih godina je...), but splitting the phrase is very common and sounds natural.
How exactly does četrdesetih godina mean "in the forties"?
To express decades, Croatian uses the genitive plural of the ordinal number (literally "the fortieths") followed by the genitive plural of godina (years). So, četrdesetih godina translates literally to "of the fortieth years." Using the genitive case like this is the standard way to create time expressions that answer the question "when?" without needing a preposition.
Why do we use u kojem here instead of just saying gdje (where)?
U kojem means "in which," combining the preposition u (in) with the locative case of the relative pronoun koji, matching the masculine noun rat (war). While you might hear native speakers casually use gdje (where) in similar situations, using the correct preposition and case (u kojem) is grammatically much more precise for saying "a war in which many died."
What case is mnogi in, and why is it standing alone without a noun?
Mnogi is in the nominative plural, acting as the subject of the second clause (su mnogi umrli). It translates to "many," and just like in English, Croatian adjectives and pronouns can stand on their own to mean "many people" without needing to explicitly add the word for "people" (ljudi).
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