Breakdown of Otvorili smo ogradu kako bi janjad izašla na livadu.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
na
on, at / to, onto (with motion) / about (thinking about)
izaći
to go out
otvoriti
to open
bi
would (bi, bismo, biste)
ograda
fence
livada
meadow
kako bi
in order to
janjad
lambs
Questions & Answers about Otvorili smo ogradu kako bi janjad izašla na livadu.
Why does the verb form izašla have a feminine singular ending when "lambs" is plural?
The word for "lambs" here is janjad, which is a collective noun ending in -ad. In Croatian, collective nouns with this ending are grammatically feminine singular, even though they describe a plural group of young animals. Because of this rule, the verb must take the feminine singular form izašla.
Is bi in kako bi acting as a conditional here?
Yes, kako bi followed by the active past participle (izašla) forms a conditional purpose clause meaning "so that they would go out." You could also use da with the present tense (da janjad izađe) to mean the same thing, but kako bi is a very standard and slightly more formal way to express purpose.
Why is livada in the accusative case (na livadu) instead of the locative (na livadi)?
We use the accusative case because the verb involves motion towards a destination (going out "onto" the meadow). If the lambs were already outside and just grazing in the meadow without changing locations, we would use the locative case (na livadi).
Can I place the subject between kako and bi?
No, when forming a purpose clause with kako bi, the enclitic bi must immediately follow kako. You cannot separate them, so a structure like kako janjad bi izašla would be grammatically incorrect.
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