Word
Što se tiče botaničara, ostat će u logoru.
Meaning
As for the botanist, he will stay in the camp.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Što se tiče botaničara, ostat će u logoru.
što
what
u
in, into
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
ostati
to stay
Questions & Answers about Što se tiče botaničara, ostat će u logoru.
Why is botaničara in the genitive case here?
The phrase što se tiče (as for / regarding) always requires the noun or pronoun that follows it to be in the genitive case. Since the base word is botaničar (a masculine noun ending in a consonant), its genitive singular form takes an -a, becoming botaničara.
Could botaničara also mean "the botanists" (plural) in this sentence?
Yes, it could! For many masculine nouns, the genitive singular and genitive plural are spelled exactly the same. In spoken Croatian, the plural has a drawn-out vowel sound on the ending to distinguish it, but in writing, you have to rely on context. Here, the English translation confirms it is singular.
Why is the future tense written as ostat će instead of ostati će?
Whenever a verb in the infinitive ends in -ti and is immediately followed by the future tense helper verb (like ću, ćeš, će), you must drop the final -i. Therefore, ostati becomes ostat.
How do we know it means "he will stay" if there is no pronoun like on?
Croatian frequently drops subject pronouns because the verb provides enough information. The third-person future helper verb će means "he, she, or it will". Since the sentence just introduced the botanist as the topic, he is the natural subject of the second half of the sentence.