Breakdown of Sjedili su blizu, ali nisu bili bliski jedan s drugim.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ali
but (strong contrast)
nisam
am not (nisi, nije, nismo, niste, nisu)
blizu
near
jedan
one
drugi
other, different
s
with
sjediti
to sit, to be sitting
blizak
close
Questions & Answers about Sjedili su blizu, ali nisu bili bliski jedan s drugim.
Why is the preposition s placed between jedan and drugim instead of before them?
In Croatian reciprocal phrases like jedan drugi (each other), when a preposition is needed, it always splits the two words. Instead of putting the preposition at the front like in English, the structure literally translates to one with another, resulting in jedan s drugim.
What cases are used for the words in jedan s drugim?
The first word jedan is in the nominative case, acting as a stand-in for the subject. The second word drugim takes the case required by the preposition, which is the instrumental case here because it follows s (with).
Would jedan s drugim change if the sentence was specifically about a group of women?
Yes, the phrase must agree with the gender of the people involved. If the subjects were all women, the sentence would use feminine forms for the verbs and adjectives (Sjedile su, bliske), and the reciprocal phrase would change to jedna s drugom. The masculine form jedan s drugim is used for males or mixed-gender groups.
Why does this sentence use two different words, blizu and bliski, to mean close?
Blizu is a spatial adverb used for physical distance, describing where they physically sat. Bliski is the plural adjective form of blizak, which describes emotional intimacy or relational closeness. Using the correct form of close is a very common B2 hurdle!
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