Question 1

Why is "that morning" translated using the Genitive case (tog jutra) with no prepositions?

Accepted Answer

This sentence uses the bare Genitive to express a specific point in time. In Croatian, when a time expression consists of a noun paired with an adjective or demonstrative pronoun (like taj), it naturally takes the Genitive case without needing any prepositions. So, taj becomes tog, and jutro becomes jutra.

Question 2

Would it be wrong to say u to jutro instead of tog jutra?

Accepted Answer

It wouldn't be strictly ungrammatical, but tog jutra is much more natural and standard. The bare Genitive is the preferred way to express "that morning", just as you would say "this year" (ove godine) or "last week" (prošlog tjedna). You'll typically save the preposition u for exact times on a clock or days of the week, like u ponedjeljak.

Question 3

Why is the enclitic je placed so late in the sentence, rather than right after Tog jutra?

Accepted Answer

Enclitics usually take the second position in a clause, but Croatian allows flexibility depending on how you group phrases. You absolutely can say Tog jutra je velika vrućina bila prvi znak. Placing je after the active participle bila is a stylistic choice that groups the subject (velika vrućina) and the verb together as a unified block before dropping the enclitic.

Question 4

Why does the verb bila take the feminine form when the noun it points to, znak, is masculine?

Accepted Answer

The verb must always agree with the grammatical subject of the sentence, which in this case is velika vrućina (great heat). Since vrućina is feminine, the verb must be the feminine bila. The word znak (sign) is the predicate noun (what the heat was), so its masculine gender doesn't dictate the verb's form.

Tog jutra velika vrućina bila je prvi znak.

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