Breakdown of Pedesetih su godina mnogi počeli kupovati televizore.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
televizor
television
kupovati
to buy
početi
to begin
godina
year
mnogi
many (adjective)
pedeseti
fiftieth
Questions & Answers about Pedesetih su godina mnogi počeli kupovati televizore.
How exactly does Pedesetih ... godina translate to "in the fifties"?
To express a decade in Croatian, you use the genitive plural of the ordinal number (here, pedeseti, meaning "fiftieth") along with the genitive plural of godina (years). So, pedesetih godina literally means "of the fiftieth years," which is the standard way to say "in the fifties."
Why does the auxiliary verb su split the phrase Pedesetih godina?
Su is an enclitic, which means it naturally gravitates to the second position in a sentence. Since Pedesetih is the first word, su jumps in right after it, splitting the time phrase. You could also keep the phrase together and treat it as a single first-position block (Pedesetih godina su mnogi...), but splitting it is very common and sounds natural.
Why is the imperfective verb kupovati used here instead of the perfective kupiti?
In Croatian, phase verbs—verbs that express starting, continuing, or stopping an action, like početi (to start)—must always be followed by an imperfective infinitive. Because of počeli, you have to use the imperfective kupovati, regardless of whether the purchase was completed.
What noun is mnogi modifying in this sentence?
It isn't modifying a visible noun; it is acting as a standalone pronoun meaning "many people." When referring to a mixed or unspecified group of people, Croatian defaults to the masculine plural form mnogi, which acts as the subject here.
Why is the plural ending for televizore -e instead of -i?
Televizor is a masculine noun acting as the direct object of the verb kupovati, which means it must be in the accusative case. The accusative plural ending for masculine nouns is -e (televizore), whereas -i (televizori) is used for the nominative plural.
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