Breakdown of Prihvatili su reklamaciju što sam je jučer poslao.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ona
she
jučer
yesterday
poslati
to send
prihvatiti
to accept
što
which, that (relative pronoun)
reklamacija
complaint (claim, return)
Questions & Answers about Prihvatili su reklamaciju što sam je jučer poslao.
Why do we need the pronoun je here if što already connects the clauses?
The word što in this relative clause is an indeclinable connector—it never changes its shape to show gender or case. Because of this, Croatian requires a resumptive clitic pronoun (here, je) to show the grammatical role of the noun in the new clause. Since reklamacija is a feminine noun and acts as the direct object of the verb "sent", we must use the feminine accusative clitic je.
How would this sentence be phrased using the standard relative pronoun instead of the što structure?
You would use a form of koji (which/that): Prihvatili su reklamaciju koju sam jučer poslao. Because koju already changes its ending to show it is feminine and accusative, you don't need the extra clitic je. Using što plus a clitic is more colloquial, but it is extremely common in spoken Croatian.
Could I change the order of the little words after što and say što je sam jučer poslao?
No, the clitic order in Croatian is strictly fixed. The auxiliary verb clitic (sam) must always come before the accusative pronoun clitic (je). The only exception to this rule is the 3rd person singular auxiliary je (is), which is the only verb clitic that goes after pronoun clitics.
I noticed the verb is poslao (masculine). If a woman is speaking, does the clitic je change?
No, the je stays exactly the same because it refers back to the feminine noun reklamaciju (the claim). However, the participle poslao must agree with the subject doing the sending. If a woman is speaking, only the verb changes: Prihvatili su reklamaciju što sam je jučer poslala.
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