Word
Oni imaju doručak, ali žele ručak.
Meaning
They have breakfast, but they want lunch.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Oni imaju doručak, ali žele ručak.
oni
they
ali
but (strong contrast)
željeti
to want
imati
to have
Questions & Answers about Oni imaju doručak, ali žele ručak.
Why didn't the endings of doručak and ručak change? Aren't they the objects of the sentence?
Yes, they are the direct objects, so they are in the accusative case. However, for masculine nouns that represent non-living things (inanimate objects) like doručak (breakfast) and ručak (lunch), the accusative form is exactly the same as the dictionary form. You don't need to change the endings at all!
Both imaju (they have) and žele (they want) are used for 'they', but one ends in -ju and the other in -e. Why?
Could I just say Imaju doručak, ali žele ručak without Oni?
Yes, absolutely! Because the verb endings (-ju and -e) already tell us that the subject is 'they', the word Oni is completely optional. Native speakers usually drop it unless they want to put special emphasis on who is doing the action.
I don't see words for 'a' or 'the' before the meals. Is that normal?