Breakdown of Inženjer nam je objasnio kolika je to zapravo konstrukcija.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
to
that
mi
we
objasniti
to explain
zapravo
actually, in fact
koliki
how large
inženjer
engineer
konstrukcija
structure
Questions & Answers about Inženjer nam je objasnio kolika je to zapravo konstrukcija.
Why does the sentence use the feminine form kolika?
The exclamatory adjective koliki must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies. Since it describes the feminine nominative noun konstrukcija (structure), it takes the feminine nominative singular form kolika.
Why are kolika and konstrukcija separated by several words in the dependent clause?
In Croatian, adjective phrases are frequently split apart to insert the verb and other short words. Moving the exclamatory word kolika to the front of the clause acts as a strong link to what is being explained, while leaving konstrukcija at the end provides natural emphasis.
Why is the neuter pronoun to used if konstrukcija is feminine?
In this sentence, to acts as a generic pointer or dummy subject meaning "this thing" or "that thing in general". When pointing to an object or concept before fully defining it with a noun, Croatian uses the neuter to regardless of the actual gender of the noun that follows.
As a quick refresher, why is the clitic order nam je instead of je nam?
Does zapravo mean "properly" or "correctly" here?
No, zapravo translates to "actually", "in fact", or "in reality". It is used here to emphasize the true, perhaps surprising scale of the structure the engineer is describing.
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