Breakdown of Idućeg tjedna vulkan se probudio.
tjedan
week
probuditi se
to wake up
idući
next
vulkan
volcano (m)
Questions & Answers about Idućeg tjedna vulkan se probudio.
Why do we use the bare Genitive idućeg tjedna here instead of a prepositional phrase?
In Croatian, you can express a specific point in time using just the Genitive case (without a preposition) as long as the time noun is modified by an adjective, pronoun, or number. Because tjedan (week) is modified by the adjective idući (following), the bare Genitive rule applies.
Since idućeg tjedna generally means "next week", why is it used with a past tense verb here?
The adjective idući means "next" or "following", and its anchor point in time depends on the verb. With a future tense verb, it means "next week" relative to right now. In a past tense narrative like this one, it means "the following week" relative to the past events being described.
Why does the enclitic se come after vulkan instead of directly after the time phrase?
While enclitics usually take the second position in a sentence (which could be Idućeg tjedna se...), introductory time phrases are often treated as a separate thought block with an implied pause. This resets the word order, making vulkan the first element of the main clause, so se correctly takes the second position after it.
Why must we use the reflexive se probudio instead of just probudio?