Learn Croatian: Ne želim nositi majicu. - I do not want to wear a t-shirt.

Majica (t-shirt) is a feminine noun. In this sentence, it is the direct object—the thing receiving the action of being worn. When a feminine noun ending in -a becomes a direct object (put into the accusative case), its ending changes to -u.

Why is the second verb nositi (to wear) in its infinitive form?

Just like in English, when you pair a verb like 'want' with another action (like 'want to wear'), the second verb stays in its dictionary form, which is called the infinitive. Here, the first verb želim is conjugated for 'I', and nositi stays unchanged.

Where is the word for 'I' in this sentence?

The 'I' is built right into the verb želim (I want), which uses the -m ending for the first-person singular. In Croatian, you usually leave out the pronoun ja (I) unless you want to emphasize it, for example, to say 'I do not want to wear it, but maybe you do'.

How does negation work with verbs like želim?

To make a verb negative, you simply put the word ne in front of it as a separate word, making ne želim (I do not want). There are only a handful of special verbs in Croatian where the ne merges into one word, like nemam (I do not have) or nisam (I am not).