Breakdown of Kupi mi novi rokovnik, žuti marker i kalkulator za posao.
ja
I
nov
new
i
and (additive)
posao
job / work
Questions & Answers about Kupi mi novi rokovnik, žuti marker i kalkulator za posao.
Since rokovnik, marker, and kalkulator are the direct objects, why do they look like they are in the nominative case?
They are actually in the accusative case, which is required for direct objects. However, because they are masculine inanimate nouns (non-living things), their accusative form is exactly identical to their nominative form. If you were buying a living thing, like a dog (pas), the ending would change to psa.
The translation says 'a new planner' and 'a yellow marker'. Why does the sentence use the definite adjectives novi and žuti instead of the indefinite nov and žut?
Strictly speaking, the indefinite forms nov and žut would be more grammatically precise here for translating 'a new' and 'a yellow'. However, in everyday modern Croatian, speakers heavily favor the definite adjective forms ending in -i for almost all situations, commonly blurring the line between definite and indefinite.
What case is posao in here, and what does the preposition za indicate?
Posao is in the accusative case. Because it is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative looks identical to its nominative form. When the preposition za takes the accusative case, it usually expresses purpose or intended use, making za posao mean 'for work' or 'intended for the job'.
Why use the dative pronoun mi here instead of saying za mene (for me)?