Word
Studenti čitaju u knjižnici.
Meaning
The students are reading in the library.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Studenti čitaju u knjižnici.
Why is the word for library knjižnici here instead of its dictionary form knjižnica?
Because it follows the preposition u (in) to show a location, which means it must be in the locative case. For feminine nouns ending in -a, you make the locative by dropping the -a and adding -i.
Wait, studenti also ends in -i. Is that in the locative case too?
No, studenti is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative (default) case. For masculine nouns like student, adding -i simply makes it plural (students). It looks just like the feminine locative ending, but it is doing a completely different job!
Why do we use čitaju for the verb 'are reading'?
The dictionary form of the verb is čitati (to read). Since the subject is studenti (they), we use the 'they' form of the present tense, which is čitaju. Remember that Croatian doesn't have a separate 'are reading' form; čitaju covers both 'read' and 'are reading'.
Is knjižnica related to the word knjiga (book)?
Yes! Knjižnica (library) is built from the same root as knjiga (book). You will often see the roots knjig- or knjiž- in Croatian words that have to do with books, reading, or literature.