Breakdown of Početkom godine pregovori će sigurno biti uspješni.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
sigurno
surely
godina
year
uspješan
successful
početkom
at the beginning of
pregovori
negotiations
Questions & Answers about Početkom godine pregovori će sigurno biti uspješni.
How does the grammar of Početkom godine work to set a time boundary?
The word početkom is actually the instrumental case of the noun početak (beginning). In Croatian, specific time markers like početkom, sredinom, and krajem act like prepositions to establish temporal boundaries, and they strictly require the following noun to be in the genitive case. That is why we use the genitive form godine.
Could I just say na početku godine instead of početkom godine?
Yes, na početku godine means the exact same thing and is grammatically correct. However, using the instrumental form početkom without a preposition is slightly more concise. It is a very common and elegant way to express time boundaries in standard Croatian, especially in professional or news contexts like discussing negotiations.
Why is the enclitic će placed after pregovori instead of right after the introductory time phrase?
Enclitics like će normally take the second position in a sentence. Here, a slight mental pause is implied after the time phrase Početkom godine, making pregovori the first word of the core clause. You will also frequently hear Početkom godine će pregovori... where the entire time phrase acts as position one. Both word orders are perfectly fine and natural.
Why is the adjective uspješni in the nominative case?
Uspješni describes the subject pregovori (negotiations), which is a masculine plural noun. When an adjective is connected to a subject by the verb biti (to be), it acts as a predicate adjective and must remain in the nominative case to match the subject.
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