Breakdown of Pedesetih su godina stil i kultura bili drugačiji.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
i
and (additive)
godina
year
kultura
culture
drugačiji
different (of another kind)
stil
style
pedeseti
fiftieth
Questions & Answers about Pedesetih su godina stil i kultura bili drugačiji.
How does the phrase Pedesetih godina translate to 'in the fifties' without using a preposition?
To express 'in the [decade]', Croatian frequently uses the genitive plural of the ordinal number (here, pedesetih from pedeseti) combined with godina. Time expressions that answer 'when?' often use the genitive case with no preposition. Literally, it means 'of the fiftieth years'.
Why is the auxiliary verb su placed right in the middle of the phrase Pedesetih godina?
Enclitics like su must take the second position in a sentence. While they can sometimes follow an entire initial phrase, placing them immediately after the very first word of the sentence is the most natural and common choice, even if it splits a noun phrase.
The subject consists of stil (masculine) and kultura (feminine). Why do the verb bili and adjective drugačiji take the masculine plural form?
When a compound subject contains nouns of different genders, Croatian defaults to masculine plural agreement for verbs and adjectives. Because stil is masculine, the mixed group is treated as masculine plural overall, resulting in bili and drugačiji.
Could I say u pedesetim godinama instead to mean 'in the fifties'?
Yes, using the preposition u with the locative case (u pedesetim godinama) is grammatically correct and means the same thing. However, using the genitive plural without a preposition (pedesetih godina) is generally more common and idiomatic when referring to decades.
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