Breakdown of Ovaj grad živi od brodogradnje i ribolova.
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
grad
city
i
and (additive)
živjeti
to live
od
from
brodogradnja
shipbuilding
ribolov
fishing
Questions & Answers about Ovaj grad živi od brodogradnje i ribolova.
How is the word brodogradnje put together?
It is a compound noun made of brod (ship) and gradnja (building/construction), connected by the linking vowel -o-. The word is in the genitive case (brodogradnje instead of the nominative brodogradnja) because it follows the preposition od.
What happens to the ending of riba when forming the compound ribolova?
When forming a compound with a feminine noun like riba (fish), the final -a is dropped. The root rib- is then joined to lov (hunt/catch) using the standard linking vowel -o-, creating the nominative noun ribolov. In this sentence, it adds an -a to become genitive (ribolova) because it is still governed by the preposition od.
Since brod and rib- both use the linking vowel -o-, is it always -o- for compound nouns?
Not always. While -o- is used after "hard" consonants (like the d in brod and b in riba), it changes to -e- if the first root ends in a "soft" consonant (like č, ć, š, ž, j, lj, or nj). For example, a compound starting with miš (mouse) would use -e-.
Why do we say živi od instead of živi iz for "lives from"?
The preposition iz is used for physical movement "out of" a space or origin. To express "living off of" something—such as an income source, an industry, or a diet—Croatian uses the fixed phrase živjeti od (to live from/off of) followed by the genitive case.
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