Breakdown of Danas kuhamo svinjetinu s povrćem.
danas
today
povrće
vegetables
kuhati
to cook
s
with
svinjetina
pork
Questions & Answers about Danas kuhamo svinjetinu s povrćem.
Why is "povrćem" grammatically singular when the English translation says "vegetables"?
In Croatian, povrće is a collective noun. This means it represents a group of things but is grammatically treated as a neuter singular noun. Because it follows the preposition s (with), it is in the instrumental case. Since the stem ends in the soft consonant ć, it takes the instrumental ending -em instead of -om.
Is there a pattern to how words for meat like "svinjetinu" are formed?
Yes! Words for meat are frequently formed by adding the suffix -etina or -ina to the animal's name. Here, svinja (pig) becomes svinjetina (pork). You will see the same pattern in piletina (chicken) and govedina (beef). In this sentence, it takes the accusative ending -u because it is the direct object.
Could we use a perfective verb like "skuhati" instead of the imperfective "kuhamo" here?
It would change the focus. Kuhamo emphasizes the ongoing process or the general activity for today (we are cooking / we cook). If you wanted to focus on the completed result, you would typically use the future tense with the perfective verb, such as Danas ćemo skuhati... meaning "Today we will get the cooking done."
Just to be sure, why do we use "s" here instead of "sa" for "with"?
The basic preposition for "with" is s. You only lengthen it to sa when the next word starts with a sibilant consonant (s, z, š, ž) so that it is physically easier to pronounce, or with certain heavy consonant clusters. Since povrćem starts with p, the standard s is used.
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