Breakdown of Postavljanje pozornice počinje sutra.
sutra
tomorrow
počinjati
to begin, to start (imperfective)
pozornica
stage
postavljanje
setting up
Questions & Answers about Postavljanje pozornice počinje sutra.
Why is pozornice in the genitive case instead of the accusative?
This is the objective genitive. Even though the stage is the object being set up, action nouns like postavljanje cannot take a direct object in the accusative case. Instead, the object of a verbal noun always takes the genitive. If we used a regular verb, it would take the accusative: postavljaju pozornicu (they are setting up the stage).
Is postavljanje derived from a perfective or imperfective verb?
It is derived from the imperfective verb postavljati (to be setting up), not the perfective postaviti (to set up). In Croatian, verbal nouns ending in -nje are almost always formed from imperfective verbs because they focus on the ongoing process of the action.
Does the verb počinje agree with postavljanje or pozornice?
It agrees with postavljanje (the setting up), which is the grammatical subject of the sentence. Since postavljanje is a neuter singular noun, the verb počinje is in the third-person singular. The word pozornice is just a genitive modifier attached to the subject.
How would a native speaker say this without using a verbal noun?
While this sentence sounds completely natural for a planning or logistical context, you could also use an active verb structure like Sutra počinju postavljati pozornicu (They start setting up the stage tomorrow). Notice how the stage shifts back to the accusative case (pozornicu) when an actual verb is used instead of an action noun.
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