Breakdown of Dešifrirajmo ovu poruku brzo, sat odbrojava!
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
sat
watch / clock
poruka
message
brzo
quickly
dešifrirati
to decipher
odbrojavati
to count down
Questions & Answers about Dešifrirajmo ovu poruku brzo, sat odbrojava!
Wait, dešifrirajmo is an imperative verb. How does that translate to 'let us'?
In Croatian, the first-person plural imperative is the standard way to say 'let's do something.' You take the base imperative form dešifriraj (decipher!) and add the plural ending -mo to include yourself in the command.
Why is odbrojava imperfective here, while dešifrirajmo is used in a perfective sense?
You use dešifrirati perfectly here because you want the action of deciphering the message to be completely finished. However, the clock is actively and continuously ticking in the background as you speak, so odbrojavati must be imperfective to show that ongoing state.
How does the prefix od- change the meaning of the verb in odbrojava?
The base verb is brojati (to count). The prefix od- often implies movement away from a source or subtraction. Attached to counting, it creates odbrojavati, which specifically means 'to count down' (counting away from the starting number).
Does sat mean 'hour' or 'clock' here?
The noun sat translates to hour, clock, or watch depending on the context. Here, it clearly means 'clock' or 'timer' because it is actively counting down (odbrojava), which an abstract unit of time like an hour cannot physically do.
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