Breakdown of Malo misle, a puno govore.
a
and / but
govoriti
to speak
puno
a lot
malo
a little
misliti
to think
Questions & Answers about Malo misle, a puno govore.
Why do the verbs misle and govore end in -e if they are -iti verbs?
In the present tense, regular -iti verbs like misliti (to think) and govoriti (to speak) drop the -iti and add specific endings. For the 'they' form, the ending is -e, which gives us misle (they think) and govore (they speak).
Where is the word for 'they' in this sentence?
Croatian usually drops subject pronouns like oni (they) because the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action. The -e ending on both verbs makes it completely clear that 'they' are the ones thinking and speaking.
Why is the word a used for 'and' here instead of i?
The word a is used to show a contrast between two things, often translating to 'but' or a contrasting 'and'. Because 'thinking a little' and 'speaking a lot' are contrasting ideas, a is the perfect word to connect them, whereas i is just used for adding similar things together.
Do the words malo and puno change their endings to match the 'they' form?
No, malo (a little) and puno (a lot) are adverbs in this sentence because they describe the verbs (how much they think and speak). Adverbs are fixed words that never change their endings, no matter who is doing the action.
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