Breakdown of Meso je u tavi na štednjaku.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
meso
meat
u
in, into
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
tava
pan
štednjak
stove
Questions & Answers about Meso je u tavi na štednjaku.
Both u and na are used here to show location. Are tavi and štednjaku in the same grammatical case?
Yes, they are both in the locative case, which answers the question 'where?' for a static location. The feminine noun tava (pan) takes the -i ending to become tavi, while the masculine noun štednjak (stove) takes the -u ending to become štednjaku.
The dictionary form of the word for stove is štednjak, ending in -k. Why doesn't the -k change to -c in the locative case?
The consonant change you are thinking of (sibilarization) only happens when a k, g, or h is followed by the vowel i. Because the masculine locative singular ending is -u, the k is followed by u and remains unchanged in štednjaku. You would only see the change to -c- in the nominative plural, štednjaci.
Could I move the locations to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis?
Yes, you can shift the prepositional phrases for emphasis, but you must respect the strict position of the enclitic je. It usually wants to be the second element. So if you start with the location, you would say Na štednjaku je meso u tavi. Placing both locations before the verb (Na štednjaku u tavi je meso) sounds unnatural because it pushes the enclitic too far back.
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