Questions & Answers about Oni su pametni studenti.
Why does the adjective pametni end in -i?
In Croatian, adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Because studenti (students) is a masculine plural noun, the adjective takes the masculine plural ending -i, making it pametni.
How do we know studenti is plural?
The singular form for a male college student is student. To make most masculine nouns plural when they are the subject of the sentence, you just add -i to the end, giving us studenti.
Does oni mean the group of students is entirely male?
Not necessarily! Oni is the plural word for 'they' used for a group of males, but it is also the default pronoun used for any mixed group of males and females. If the group consisted only of female students, the sentence would change to: One su pametne studentice.
Can we drop the word oni like we usually do with pronouns?
Yes, you can often drop subject pronouns in Croatian because the verb already tells us who is doing the action. However, because su is a weak word (called a clitic) that cannot start a sentence, you would have to change the word order to something like: Pametni su studenti.