Breakdown of Škole su velike, a hoteli su mali.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
a
and / but
velik
big
škola
school
mali
small
hotel
hotel
Questions & Answers about Škole su velike, a hoteli su mali.
Why do škole and velike end in -e?
Škola (school) is a feminine noun because it ends in -a in its dictionary form. To make a regular feminine noun plural (more than one), you change the -a to an -e, making it škole. The adjective velik (large) has to match the noun it describes, so it also takes the feminine plural ending -e, becoming velike.
Why do hoteli and mali end in -i instead of -e?
Unlike the feminine word škola, the word hotel is a masculine noun (it ends in a consonant). Regular masculine nouns usually form their plural by adding -i, making it hoteli. Just like with the schools, the adjective must match the noun's gender and number, so "small" takes the masculine plural ending to become mali.
The English translation says "and", but the Croatian sentence uses a. Why not use i?
In Croatian, a is a special word used when you are contrasting two things. Even though it can translate to "and" in English, it often feels more like "while", "whereas", or "but". Here, we are pointing out a difference: the schools are large, whereas the hotels are small. If you used i, it would sound like you are just listing facts rather than comparing them.
Why is the word su placed right after škole and hoteli?
The word su (are) is an enclitic. Enclitics are "weak" words that don't have their own stress, so they always want to grab onto the first available word in a sentence or phrase. That's why su naturally falls into the second position in both halves of this sentence: right after Škole and right after hoteli.
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