Breakdown of Naš protivnik mora preskočiti ovaj potez.
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
morati
must
naš
our
potez
move, turn
protivnik
opponent
preskočiti
to skip
Questions & Answers about Naš protivnik mora preskočiti ovaj potez.
How does the prefix pre- change the meaning of the base verb skočiti here?
The prefix pre- often signifies movement across or over something. Just as skočiti means to jump, preskočiti literally means to jump over. In both games and everyday speech, such as skipping a meal or a track on a playlist, it is the standard word for to skip.
Since ovaj potez is the direct object being skipped, why doesn't it take an accusative ending like ovog poteza?
Because potez is a masculine inanimate noun, meaning it refers to a thing rather than a living being. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative case looks exactly like the nominative. You only use the endings seen in ovog protivnika for masculine animate nouns.
Does the noun potez only apply to moves in a game?
No, it has a very wide range of uses. It comes from the verb povući, meaning to pull or to draw, so it frequently describes a stroke of a pen or paintbrush. Figuratively, just like in English, it is used for strategic moves in politics, business, or life.
Is it grammatically correct to say mora da preskoči instead of mora preskočiti?
While you will hear the da plus present tense structure in casual speech and it is standard in some neighboring countries, standard Croatian strongly prefers using the infinitive directly after modal verbs like morati.
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