Breakdown of Ivan je proćelav i udebljao se, zar ne?
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
i
and (additive)
ne
no, not
zar
really? (surprise) / right? (tag question)
Ivan
Ivan
proćelav
balding
udebljati se
to gain weight
Questions & Answers about Ivan je proćelav i udebljao se, zar ne?
Why do we use zar ne here instead of translating "hasn't he" literally?
In English, question tags change depending on the verb, person, and tense (like "isn't he", "hasn't he", or "didn't they"). In Croatian, it is much easier! You can just add the invariant tag zar ne to the end of any statement to seek confirmation. It works for all tenses and all persons.
What is the difference between ćelav and proćelav?
Ćelav means "bald". The prefix pro- is sometimes added to adjectives to mean "somewhat" or "starting to become". Therefore, proćelav means "balding" or "partially bald".
Why are the two small words je and se placed where they are?
Both je and se are clitics, meaning they are unstressed words that must take the second grammatical position of their clause. The sentence has two clauses joined by i (and). In the first clause, je takes the second spot after Ivan. In the second clause, udebljao is in the first spot, so se must immediately follow it.
The verb udebljao se is in the past tense. Why is there no auxiliary verb je here?
You are right that the past tense normally requires the auxiliary verb je for the third person singular. However, there is a special rule in Croatian: whenever the auxiliary je would appear right next to the reflexive pronoun se, the je is completely dropped. This is why we say udebljao se instead of udebljao se je.
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