Breakdown of Kaskader će skočiti blizu ponora, pa makar to bilo opasno.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
to
that
blizu
near
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
opasan
dangerous
skočiti
to jump (pf.)
pa makar
even if
kaskader
stuntman
ponor
abyss
Questions & Answers about Kaskader će skočiti blizu ponora, pa makar to bilo opasno.
What is the difference between using pa makar and čak i ako in this sentence?
Both translate to "even if," but pa makar often emphasizes a more extreme or defiant condition. Grammatically, pa makar allows you to drop the conditional auxiliary verb bi and use just the past participle (bilo) for hypothetical situations, which sounds very natural in Croatian.
Why is bilo used here instead of the present tense je?
Using the past participle bilo after pa makar creates a hypothetical meaning, similar to the English subjunctive "even if it were dangerous." If you used the present tense je, it would sound more like an established fact rather than a hypothetical risk.
Why does ponor (abyss) change to ponora?
The preposition blizu (near) always takes the genitive case. Since ponor is a masculine noun ending in a consonant, it takes the standard genitive ending -a.
What does the word to refer to in the second clause?
The neuter pronoun to (that or it) refers to the entire preceding action of jumping near the abyss. Because to is neuter, both the verb form (bilo) and the adjective (opasno) must also be in their neuter forms to agree with it.
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