Questions & Answers about Oni su važni ljudi.
Why does važni end in -i here?
The word važni (important) is an adjective describing ljudi (people). Since ljudi is a masculine plural noun, the adjective must match its gender and number. For masculine plural nouns in the nominative case (when they are the subject of the sentence), adjectives take the -i ending. The singular form for a masculine subject would be važan.
I don't recognize the noun ljudi. What is its singular form?
The word ljudi means people and is a highly irregular plural noun. Its singular form is čovjek (man or human). Even though they look completely different, they work together exactly like person and people do in English. Grammatically, ljudi acts as a masculine plural noun, which is why the adjective before it must be važni.
Why do we use oni for they instead of one?
In Croatian, the word for they changes depending on who or what you are talking about. You use oni for masculine or mixed-gender groups. Since the noun ljudi (people) is grammatically masculine, we use oni. If the sentence was about women (žene), you would use the feminine plural pronoun one.
Can I change the word order and say Oni važni ljudi su?
No, because the word su (are) is a clitic, which is a short, unaccented word that generally must sit in the second position of a sentence. Placing it at the very end feels unnatural in Croatian. Putting it right after the first word (Oni) satisfies this second-position rule perfectly.
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