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Questions & Answers about Kupujem poklone.
Why does the word for gifts, poklone, end in -e here?
Poklone is the direct object of the verb (what you are buying), so it is in the accusative case. The base dictionary word is poklon, which is a masculine noun because it ends in a consonant. For masculine nouns, the accusative plural ending is -e.
Where is the word for "I" (ja) in this sentence?
In Croatian, you usually drop the subject pronoun (like ja) because the verb's ending already tells you who is doing the action. The -m at the end of kupujem clearly means "I am buying."
How do I know if kupujem means "I buy" or "I am buying"?
You tell from context! Croatian doesn't have a separate "am doing" (continuous) tense like English does. The present tense kupujem translates to both "I buy" and "I am buying."
Since poklone is masculine, what would it look like if I was buying feminine items instead?
It would actually have the same ending! Both masculine and feminine nouns take an -e ending in the accusative plural. For example, if you were buying feminine books (knjige), it would be: Kupujem knjige.