Breakdown of Njihov obred počinje usred noći.
njihov
their
noć
night
počinjati
to begin, to start (imperfective)
usred
in the middle of
obred
ritual
Questions & Answers about Njihov obred počinje usred noći.
Could we use svoj instead of njihov here?
No. The word svoj refers back to the subject of the sentence. Here, the subject itself is Njihov obred (Their ritual). Because the possessive pronoun is part of the subject, you must use njihov rather than svoj.
Why use the imperfective verb počinje instead of the perfective počne?
Počinje is the imperfective form (from počinjati) and is used here because it describes a general fact, a habit, or a scheduled event in the present tense. If you were talking about a specific one-time event that will happen in the future, you would use the perfective počne (for example, after a conjunction like kad).
Why does the word for night end in -i (noći) in this sentence?
It is in the genitive case, which is required by the preposition usred (in the middle of). Remember that noć is a feminine noun that ends in a consonant (an i-declension noun). Unlike most feminine nouns that take -e in the genitive singular, these consonant-ending feminine nouns take -i.
What is the difference between saying usred noći and sredinom noći?
While both translate to 'in the middle of the night', usred carries a more dramatic or intense feeling, like 'in the dead of night' or right in the thick of it. Sredinom is more neutral and factual, simply referring to the middle part of a time period (like sredinom tjedna for mid-week).
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