Breakdown of Proputovao sam cijelu Švicarsku vlakom.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
vlak
train
cijeli
whole
proputovati
to travel through
Švicarska
Switzerland
Questions & Answers about Proputovao sam cijelu Švicarsku vlakom.
Why does the country name "Switzerland" take the ending -u here as Švicarsku?
Švicarska is an adjectival noun. Even though it acts as a noun, it takes adjective endings. Since it is the direct object of the verb here, it needs to be in the accusative case. The accusative singular ending for feminine adjectives is -u, so Švicarska becomes Švicarsku.
Notice how cijelu and Švicarsku end in the exact same letter. Is this because they are both adjectives?
Exactly. Because Švicarska follows adjectival declension, any adjective modifying it will often share the exact same ending. In the accusative case, both the standard adjective cijela and the adjectival noun Švicarska take the -u ending, creating the perfectly matching pair cijelu Švicarsku.
What nuance does the prefix pro- add to the verb putovati (to travel)?
The prefix pro- generally indicates movement through or across something from start to finish, and it makes the verb perfective. While putovao sam just means "I was traveling", proputovao sam implies successfully traveling extensively all over or throughout a place. It pairs perfectly with cijelu (the whole).
I often want to add a preposition and say s vlakom for "by train". Why is it just vlakom?
When you use a noun to show the means or instrument by which an action is performed (like a vehicle for traveling), you use the bare instrumental case (vlakom). The preposition s or sa is strictly used when expressing company, such as traveling with a friend (s prijateljem).
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