Breakdown of Ovdje je sve sterilno, pa te mogu tetovirati.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ti
you (sg. informal)
ovdje
here
moći
can
pa
so, and then
sav
all (of a whole) / everyone, all (people) / everything
sterilan
sterile
tetovirati
to tattoo
Questions & Answers about Ovdje je sve sterilno, pa te mogu tetovirati.
Why is the adjective sterilno in the neuter form?
What is the exact role of pa here, and could I just use tako da?
Yes, you could absolutely use tako da (so) here. The word pa is a very common coordinating conjunction used to show a logical sequence or direct consequence, translating to "and so" or "therefore." It is heavily favored in everyday spoken Croatian to quickly link a situation to its immediate result.
Does the verb tetovirati have separate perfective and imperfective forms?
No, tetovirati is what is known as a "bi-aspectual" verb. Like many borrowed international words ending in -irati (such as parkirati or organizirati), the exact same form is used for both the imperfective aspect (the ongoing process of tattooing) and the perfective aspect (the completed act of giving a tattoo). Context tells you which one it is.
Why is the short pronoun te placed immediately after the conjunction pa?
Strict traditional grammar dictates that coordinating conjunctions like pa, a, and i do not count as the "first position" for placing enclitics (unstressed short words like te). Following the textbook perfectly, you might expect pa mogu te tetovirati. However, in modern, everyday spoken Croatian, native speakers constantly treat pa as a valid first word and drop the enclitic right after it.
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