Question 1

Why is svoj used instead of njegov for "his"?

Accepted Answer

Svoj is the reflexive possessive pronoun, meaning "one's own". Because the subject of the sentence ("he") is also the owner of the goal, you must use svoj rather than njegov. If you used njegov, it would mean he is trying to achieve someone else's goal.

Question 2

The word for help is pomoć. Why does it end in -i here?

Accepted Answer

The preposition bez (without) always requires the genitive case. Pomoć is a feminine noun that ends in a consonant (part of the feminine i-declension). In the genitive case, these nouns take an -i ending, making it pomoći. The adjective naše (our) also takes the feminine genitive ending.

Question 3

Could neće also mean "they won't" in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The negative future auxiliary neće is the exact same word for both the third-person singular (he/she/it won't) and the third-person plural (they won't). Without an explicit pronoun like on (he) or oni (they), you have to rely entirely on the wider context to know which one is meant.

Question 4

Why use the perfective verb ostvariti rather than the imperfective ostvarivati?

Accepted Answer

The focus here is on the final result: successfully achieving the goal. The perfective ostvariti emphasizes that completion, whereas the imperfective ostvarivati would focus on the ongoing process of working towards or gradually realizing the goal.

Neće ostvariti svoj cilj bez naše pomoći.

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