Breakdown of Mračna šumetina postala je sve veća dok je nosio sjekiru.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
velik
big
nositi
to carry, to wear
dok
while
mračan
dark (gloomy, obscure)
postati
to become
sve
increasingly (with a comparative)
sjekira
axe
šumetina
huge forest
Questions & Answers about Mračna šumetina postala je sve veća dok je nosio sjekiru.
How is the noun šumetina formed, and what nuance does it add to the base word?
It is an augmentative of šuma (forest), created by adding the suffix -etina. While šuma is just a standard forest, šumetina implies a huge, imposing, and perhaps overwhelming or scary forest.
Both mračna and veća are feminine singular. Is this because šuma is feminine, or because of the augmentative suffix?
Both! However, the strict rule to remember here is that all augmentatives ending in -ina or -etina are grammatically feminine singular, no matter the natural gender of the original noun. Because šuma is already feminine, the agreement doesn't look different here, but even if you used a masculine noun (like grad becoming gradetina), the adjectives would still have to be feminine singular.
Why is sve used before veća, and how does it translate to 'bigger and bigger'?
In Croatian, placing the invariable word sve directly before a comparative adjective is the standard way to express a continuous increase. It translates to 'increasingly bigger' or 'bigger and bigger'. You do not use the word for 'and' to build this structure.
Why do we use the imperfective verb nosio in the second part of the sentence?
The conjunction dok (while) sets up a continuous, background action. The imperfective verb nositi (to carry) correctly shows that he was in the ongoing process of carrying the axe while the forest was simultaneously changing.
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