Breakdown of Ove godine putujemo u Francusku.
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
u
in, into
putovati
to travel
godina
year
Questions & Answers about Ove godine putujemo u Francusku.
Why do we say u Francusku here instead of u Francuskoj?
The preposition u triggers the accusative case when it shows motion towards a destination (traveling TO France). If you were describing a static location (being IN France), you would use the locative case and the distinct adjectival ending, giving you u Francuskoj.
Since Francuska is an adjectival noun, why does its accusative ending just look like a normal noun ending?
In the feminine accusative singular, both regular nouns (like žena becoming ženu) and adjectives (like lijepa becoming lijepu) take the -u ending. So while Francuska declines strictly as an adjective, its accusative form Francusku happens to look identical to standard noun declension. The adjectival nature is much more obvious in cases like the locative (u Francuskoj).
Why is "this year" translated using the genitive case (ove godine)?
In Croatian, time expressions that pinpoint when something happens during a specific week, month, or year are standardly put into the genitive case without any preposition. This is a very common pattern you will also see in phrases like sljedećeg tjedna (next week) or prošlog mjeseca (last month).
Can we use the present tense putujemo for a future event like this?