Breakdown of Investitori su zabrinuti zbog novih pravila.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
nov
new
pravilo
rule
zbog
because of
zabrinut
worried
investitor
investor
Questions & Answers about Investitori su zabrinuti zbog novih pravila.
Why is zbog used here instead of zato što?
Zbog is a preposition meaning "because of," so it must be followed by a noun phrase (here, novih pravila). If you wanted to use zato što ("because"), you would need to follow it with a full clause containing a verb, such as: zato što postoje nova pravila (because new rules exist).
What case is novih pravila, and why does pravila look exactly like its nominative plural form?
The phrase is in the genitive plural, which is required by the preposition zbog. The noun pravilo (rule) is neuter. For neuter nouns, both the nominative plural and the genitive plural end in -a (though the final 'a' is pronounced longer in the genitive). We can easily tell it is genitive here because the adjective novih uses the distinct genitive plural ending.
Why does zabrinuti end in -i?
Zabrinuti (worried) functions as an adjective here. It must agree in gender, number, and case with the subject it describes, Investitori (investors). Because the subject is a masculine plural noun in the nominative case, the adjective takes the masculine plural nominative ending -i.
Could the auxiliary verb su be placed later in the sentence, such as after zabrinuti?
No. Su is an enclitic, which means it is an unstressed word that must strictly occupy the second position in a Croatian sentence. Here, it correctly sits right after the first word/concept, Investitori.
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