Breakdown of Iako pada snijeg, ići ćemo u Švedsku.
u
in, into
ići
to go
ću
will (future auxiliary)
snijeg
snow
Questions & Answers about Iako pada snijeg, ići ćemo u Švedsku.
Since Švedska is an adjectival noun, why does its ending here (-u) look like a regular noun ending?
It actually is an adjectival ending! The accusative feminine singular ending for adjectives is -u, which happens to look identical to the regular noun ending. Just as you would say u lijepu kuću, you say u Švedsku. You see its unique adjectival nature in other cases, like the locative u Švedskoj.
Why do we use the accusative u Švedsku here instead of the locative u Švedskoj?
Because the verb ići (to go) expresses motion toward a destination. The preposition u takes the accusative case for destinations. If there were no motion and you were already located there, you would use the locative case, as in Živimo u Švedskoj (We live in Sweden).
How does the phrasing of pada snijeg differ from English?
English uses a dummy pronoun ('it') and a weather verb ('is snowing'). Croatian does not use dummy pronouns; instead, it makes the weather element the subject of the verb padati (to fall). The phrase literally translates to 'snow is falling.'
Why is the future tense written as two separate words (ići ćemo) instead of merging them?
When the infinitive comes before the future helping verb (ćemo), verbs that end in -ći (like ići) are always written as two separate words. If it were a regular verb ending in -ti, the 'i' would drop and they would be written together, such as radit ćemo.