Breakdown of Zbog lošeg zrna, kava nije ukusna.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
kava
coffee
loš
bad
ukusan
tasty
zbog
because of
zrno
bean
Questions & Answers about Zbog lošeg zrna, kava nije ukusna.
Could I use radi instead of zbog here?
No. Zbog is used to express the cause of something (because of), while radi expresses a purpose or goal (for the sake of, in order to). Using radi here would weirdly imply the coffee is bad on purpose for the bean's sake!
Why does loše zrno change to lošeg zrna?
The preposition zbog always triggers the genitive case. Zrno is a neuter noun, so its genitive singular ending is -a, making it zrna. The adjective loš (bad) ends in a soft consonant, so it takes the neuter genitive ending -eg instead of -og to become lošeg.
The translation says bad bean in the singular. Does zrno refer to the coffee beans collectively?
Yes! While zrno literally means a single grain or bean, Croatian often uses it in the singular to refer to the overall quality of the crop or ingredient. You could also say zbog loših zrna (plural), but the singular is very common and natural in this context.
Is there a difference between saying the coffee is ukusna versus fina?
Both work well! Ukusna strictly means tasty or delicious, as it comes from the word okus (taste). Fina is a broader, very common word used for anything pleasant or of good quality, so you will often hear native speakers say kava je fina.
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