Question 1

The adjective dobra can be graded to make a comparative (like bolja violina). Could we do the same if it were a material adjective, like drvena violina (a wooden violin)?

Accepted Answer

No. Material adjectives like drven (wooden) or staklen (glass) describe what something is made of, which is generally an absolute quality. A violin can be "better" (bolja), but it cannot grammatically be "more wooden" (drvenija). This is why material adjectives do not take comparative or superlative forms.

Question 2

Why is the verb treba used here as a normal verb with a direct object, since trebati is often used as an impersonal verb?

Accepted Answer

When trebati means "to need" a specific physical noun (like a bow), it behaves like a regular transitive verb. The subject is the entity doing the needing (the nominative violina) and the needed item is the direct object (the accusative dobro gudalo). You will see its impersonal form mostly when combining it with other verbs, like "I need to work" (Treba raditi).

Question 3

Is dobro gudalo in the nominative or accusative case here?

Accepted Answer

It is in the accusative case, serving as the direct object of the verb treba. It might look like the nominative because for neuter nouns like gudalo (and their modifying adjectives), the accusative form is completely identical to the nominative form.

Question 4

The word for bow is gudalo. Does the -lo ending tell us anything about how this word was formed?

Accepted Answer

Yes! The suffix -lo is frequently added to verb roots to create a neuter noun that represents a tool or instrument. Gudalo comes from the verb gudjeti (to play a string instrument / to bow). You've likely seen this tool suffix on other B2 vocabulary words like ogledalo (mirror) or svjetlo (light).

Dobra violina uvijek treba dobro gudalo.

Breakdown of Dobra violina uvijek treba dobro gudalo.

Questions & Answers about Dobra violina uvijek treba dobro gudalo.

Learn Dobra violina uvijek treba dobro gudalo and more in Croatian