Question 1

Why do we use put here instead of puta?

Accepted Answer

In Croatian, the word for 'time' (as in occurrences) changes depending on the number before it. After jedan (one) and ordinal numbers (like prvi, first), we use the base form put. For other numbers like two or five, or quantifiers like many, it takes the crystallized genitive form puta (e.g., dva puta, pet puta).

Question 2

Is there a single word we could use instead of jedan put?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can use the adverb jednom (once). In fact, jednom is much more common in everyday speech than writing out jedan put. Both are perfectly correct and mean exactly the same thing in this sentence.

Question 3

I learned that prijelom means a 'fracture' or 'break'. Why is the copyeditor reading it?

Accepted Answer

You are right that prijelom commonly means a physical fracture, like a broken bone! However, in publishing and media, prijelom is the standard term for the 'page layout' or 'page proofs'. It comes from the idea of breaking a continuous flow of text into distinct printed pages.

Question 4

Since prijelom is the direct object being read, why doesn't its ending change?

Accepted Answer

Because prijelom is an inanimate masculine noun. In the accusative case, which marks the direct object, inanimate masculine nouns keep their dictionary form. If the copyeditor were reading a feminine noun like knjiga (book), it would change to the accusative knjigu.

Lektor je jedan put pročitao prijelom.

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