Breakdown of Ne morate ući u zonu danas, ali ne smijete ništa skenirati.
danas
today
ne
no, not
ali
but (strong contrast)
u
in, into
morati
must
ništa
nothing
ući
to enter
smjeti
may, to be allowed to
zona
zone
skenirati
to scan
Questions & Answers about Ne morate ući u zonu danas, ali ne smijete ništa skenirati.
Why is a perfective verb (ući) allowed after the negative modal ne morate here?
Ne morati means 'not to have to' (a lack of obligation). Because it does not express a strict prohibition, it does not force a specific verbal aspect. You are simply saying there is no obligation to complete the action of entering (ući), so the perfective aspect is perfectly fine here.
How does the rule for ne smjeti (prohibition) apply to the second half of the sentence?
When ne smjeti means 'must not,' it strictly requires an imperfective verb to follow it, because a prohibition applies to the action in general, at all times. Here, the following verb skenirati fulfills this rule.
Wait, isn't skenirati a perfective verb too? How does that work with the ne smijete rule?
Many loanwords ending in -irati like skenirati are bi-aspectual, meaning they can act as either perfective or imperfective depending on the context. Here, the strict grammar rule of ne smijete forces skenirati to be understood and used in its imperfective sense.
Why do we use ništa (nothing) instead of a word for 'anything'?
Croatian requires double negation. Because the modal verb is negated (ne smijete), any pronouns or adverbs in the same clause must also take their negative form. So, 'must not scan anything' translates literally to 'must not scan nothing' (ne smijete ništa skenirati).
Why is it u zonu and not u zoni?
The verb ući (to enter) involves motion towards a destination. With the preposition u, expressing destination or motion requires the accusative case (u zonu). If you were already inside and just doing something there, you would use the locative case (u zoni).
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