Breakdown of Visoku smo prisutnost morali dokazati, drugim riječima, barem osamdeset sati.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
morati
must
visok
tall / high (of amount, price)
drugi
other, different
osamdeset
eighty
barem
at least
dokazati
to prove
sat
hour
riječ
word
prisutnost
attendance
Questions & Answers about Visoku smo prisutnost morali dokazati, drugim riječima, barem osamdeset sati.
Why is barem placed exactly where it is here, and what is its scope?
Barem (at least) sits right in front of the phrase it modifies—here, the amount osamdeset sati (eighty hours). It restricts this specific number, showing the absolute minimum required. If you moved it earlier, like barem smo morali dokazati..., it would change the scope to modify the verb, meaning at least we had to prove [it] instead of proving at least 80 hours.
Why does the clitic smo split the adjective Visoku and the noun prisutnost?
In Croatian, enclitics like smo naturally gravitate to the second position in a sentence or clause. While you could keep the noun phrase together and put the clitic after it (Visoku prisutnost smo morali...), splitting the adjective and noun (Visoku smo prisutnost...) is a very natural and common stylistic choice. It places extra emphasis on the adjective Visoku (high).
What case is drugim riječima in, and why?
It is in the instrumental case. This is a fixed idiomatic phrase meaning "in other words" (literally: by other words). The instrumental case is often used without a preposition to show the means or manner by which something is done, including the way something is expressed.
Why is sati used here instead of satova for the plural of "hours"?
With numbers five and above (like osamdeset), the following noun must take the genitive plural. The word sat has an irregular genitive plural when it means "hour": it becomes sati. The regular-looking genitive plural satova is only used when the word means "clocks" or "watches".
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