Breakdown of Takav je lažljivac da mu nitko više ne vjeruje.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
on
he
ne
no, not
više
anymore
vjerovati
to believe
nitko
nobody
da
that (conjunction)
takav
such, that kind of
lažljivac
liar
Questions & Answers about Takav je lažljivac da mu nitko više ne vjeruje.
Why do we use takav here instead of tako?
Both can translate to "such" or "so" in English, but they have different grammatical roles. Takav is an adjective, so it must agree with the noun it modifies—in this case, the masculine nominative noun lažljivac (liar). You would use tako when modifying an adjective, an adverb, or a verb (for example, tako laže, he lies so much).
What is the grammatical structure of the takav ... da consecutive clause in this sentence?
This structure expresses a cause and its result. The main clause uses takav (such a) to describe the intensity or quality of the subject (he is such a liar), and the subordinate clause starting with da (that) explains the consequence of that quality (nobody believes him).
Why is the verb je placed right after takav instead of after lažljivac?
The word je is an enclitic, an unstressed word that typically must take the second position in a sentence. Here, it neatly slips in right after the first stressed word, takav, splitting the logical phrase takav lažljivac. If you included the subject pronoun, you would say On je takav lažljivac, where je takes the second position after on.
Why is the pronoun mu (him) in the dative case?
The verb vjerovati (to believe) requires its object to be in the dative case in Croatian. So, "believes him" translates to vjeruje mu, where mu is the short, unstressed dative form of on (he).
How does the phrase nitko više ne vjeruje come together to mean "nobody believes him anymore"?
Croatian requires double negation, so the negative pronoun nitko (nobody) must be paired with a negated verb, ne vjeruje. When you add više (more) to a negative sentence, the phrase više ne translates to "not anymore" or "no longer". Together, nitko više ne creates the meaning of "nobody [does something] anymore".
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