Questions & Answers about Tko je liječnik?
Why does je come right after Tko?
Tko means 'who', and je is the short, unstressed word for 'is'. In Croatian, these short verbs (called clitics) strongly prefer to be in the second position in a sentence. Because Tko is the first word, je naturally locks into the second spot.
Where is the word for 'the' before liječnik?
Croatian doesn't use articles like 'a', 'an', or 'the'. The word liječnik can mean 'doctor', 'a doctor', or 'the doctor' depending on the context. In this question, 'the doctor' is the most natural English translation.
Does liječnik refer to a male or female doctor?
Liječnik is a masculine noun, so it technically means a male doctor. The feminine word is liječnica. However, when asking a general question like 'Who is the doctor here?' without knowing who the person might be, the masculine form liječnik is used as the default.
How would I use this same structure to ask 'Where is the doctor?'
Since this lesson also covers Gdje (where), you would just replace Tko with Gdje to make Gdje je liječnik?. The word order stays exactly the same because the short verb je still needs to be in the second position.
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