Breakdown of Braća se često natječu jedan s drugim.
često
often
jedan
one
drugi
other, different
s
with
braća
brothers (collective)
natjecati se
to compete
Questions & Answers about Braća se često natječu jedan s drugim.
Why is the preposition s placed between jedan and drugim?
In Croatian, when you use a preposition with the reciprocal phrase jedan drugi (each other), the preposition is always inserted directly between the two words. It is grammatically incorrect to place it at the beginning (you cannot say s jedan drugim).
Why are jedan and drugim in different cases?
Jedan acts as the logical subject of the reciprocal action (literally "one competes with the other"), so it stays in the nominative case. The second word, drugim, takes the instrumental case because it is governed by the preposition s (with).
Since braća (brothers) is a plural subject, why is jedan s drugim in the singular?
The phrase jedan drugi acts as a fixed expression. It heavily defaults to the masculine singular form to express "each other," regardless of the grammatical number or collective nature of the main subject. You don't need to make it plural to match the brothers.
Since natjecati se already has the reflexive pronoun se, isn't jedan s drugim redundant?
Natjecati se (to compete) is an inherently reflexive verb, meaning the se is just a mandatory grammatical part of the verb itself, not a word meaning "each other." Adding jedan s drugim specifically spells out "with one another" and allows you to introduce the preposition s to clarify who the opponents are.
Why does braća take the plural verb natječu even though the noun looks singular?
Braća is a collective noun meaning "brothers." Even though it declines like a feminine singular noun (ending in -a), it refers to a group of people and grammatically takes plural verb forms in the present tense. That is why we use natječu (they compete) rather than natječe (he/she/it competes).
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