Breakdown of Ukrali su mi tablicu s prtljažnika!
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ja
I
ukrasti
to steal
sa
from, off (+ genitive)
Questions & Answers about Ukrali su mi tablicu s prtljažnika!
Why does the sentence use the dative pronoun mi instead of the possessive moju for 'my license plate'?
In Croatian, it is much more natural to use the dative case to show that an action happens to someone or directly affects them, rather than using a possessive pronoun like moju. Saying Ukrali su mi tablicu (literally 'They stole to me the license plate') sounds much more native than Ukrali su moju tablicu.
Why is the preposition s (from/off) used here instead of iz (out of)? Isn't a trunk an enclosed space?
If the thieves took something from inside the trunk, you would indeed use iz (out of), such as taking groceries iz prtljažnika. However, the license plate is attached to the outside surface of the trunk. For taking something off a surface, Croatian uses s (or sa) followed by the genitive case.
I usually hear people say gepek for a car trunk. Is prtljažnik the formal word?
Exactly. Prtljažnik is the standard Croatian word for a car trunk, derived from the word prtljaga (luggage). In everyday spoken Croatian, you will very frequently hear the German loanword gepek, but prtljažnik is the correct term you will see in writing, news, or formal speech.
Does tablica always mean a license plate?