Breakdown of U usporedbi s Njemačkom, Hrvatska je mala.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
mali
small
Hrvatska
Croatia
Njemačka
Germany
u usporedbi s
compared with (+ instrumental)
Questions & Answers about U usporedbi s Njemačkom, Hrvatska je mala.
Why is Germany written as Njemačkom here instead of taking a standard feminine noun ending?
The word Njemačka (Germany) is actually an adjective functioning as a noun. Because of this, it declines using adjective endings rather than noun endings. It is in the instrumental case here due to the preposition s (with), so it takes the feminine instrumental adjective ending -om, resulting in Njemačkom.
The English translation says "Compared with". Could I use a participle like Uspoređeno s instead of U usporedbi s?
While uspoređeno s is a literal translation of "compared with", native speakers almost always use the noun phrase u usporedbi s (literally "in comparison with"). Using the noun form sounds much more natural in Croatian when you want to contrast two things.
Why does the word usporedbi end in -i in this sentence?
The word is in the locative case, which is required by the preposition u (in) when referring to an abstract state or location rather than movement. The base noun is the feminine word usporedba (comparison), and regular feminine nouns ending in -a change that ending to -i in the locative case.
What determines whether to use s or sa before Njemačkom?
The shorter form s is the default. You only use the longer form sa if the following word starts with the letters s, z, š, ž, or sometimes consonant clusters like ps or ks. Since Njemačkom starts with nj, the default s is correct.
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