Breakdown of U siječnju ćemo osnovati prvu koloniju na udaljenom planetu.
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
siječanj
January
prvi
first (masculine)
planet
planet
osnovati
to found
u
at (a time)
kolonija
colony
udaljen
distant
Questions & Answers about U siječnju ćemo osnovati prvu koloniju na udaljenom planetu.
Why does the phrase for 'in January' use the Locative case here?
This lesson focuses on using u plus the Locative case to express broad periods of time, like months, years, and centuries. If you were talking about a specific day of the week instead, you would use u plus the Accusative case.
What is the nominative form of the month here, and why does it lose a letter in the Locative?
The nominative is siječanj. It features a fleeting 'a' (nepostojano a), which is a vowel that disappears when the word changes case. Because of this rule, the Locative form is siječnju rather than siječanju.
Both u siječnju and na planetu end in -u. Are they in the same case?
Yes, both are in the Locative case, but for different reasons! The first uses u for a broad period of time. The second uses na for a static physical location. Even though they are establishing something new, the action happens locally on the planet, so it takes the Locative instead of the Accusative of destination.
Why is ćemo placed right after U siječnju instead of next to the main verb?
The word ćemo is an enclitic, meaning it must sit in the second position of the sentence. Putting the time phrase U siječnju at the very beginning to set the scene occupies the first position, naturally pushing ćemo right behind it.
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