Breakdown of Obitelj se preselila krajem četrdesetih godina.
obitelj
family (f)
godina
year
kraj
end
preseliti se
to move (residence)
četrdeseti
fortieth
Questions & Answers about Obitelj se preselila krajem četrdesetih godina.
Why is četrdesetih godina in the genitive case here?
It is in the genitive plural for two overlapping reasons. First, expressing decades like 'the forties' inherently uses the genitive plural in Croatian. Second, the word krajem (at the end of) always forces the time period that follows it into the genitive case.
Why do we use the ordinal number četrdesetih (fortieth) instead of the regular number četrdeset (forty)?
In Croatian, decades are always expressed using ordinal numbers (first, second, fortieth, etc.) acting as adjectives that modify the plural word godina. You are literally saying 'of the fortieth years'. Using the regular number četrdeset would mean 'a span of forty years' rather than 'the 1940s'.
Is krajem functioning as a preposition here?
Exactly. Krajem is technically the instrumental singular form of the noun kraj (end), but it is used here as a preposition of time meaning 'at the end of'. Whenever you use krajem to specify a time, the following noun phrase must be in the genitive case.
Why does the verb preselila have a feminine singular ending when obitelj is a group of people and ends in a consonant?
Obitelj (family) is an 'i-declension' noun. These are nouns that end in a consonant but are grammatically feminine. Furthermore, Croatian treats collective groups like a family as a single unit grammatically, so the verb takes the singular feminine past tense ending -la.
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