Vatra se širi područjem.

The fire is spreading through the area.

Breakdown of Vatra se širi područjem.

• širiti se: to spread
• vatra: fire; a flame
• područje: an area; region

Questions & Answers about Vatra se širi područjem.

Why is se used in Vatra se širi?

Se is the clitic used with many Croatian verbs that are reflexive or middle-voice in meaning. Here, širiti se means to spread.

So:

• širiti = to spread something, to expand something
• širiti se = to spread, to expand, to extend on its own

In this sentence, the fire is not spreading something else; the fire itself is spreading, so Croatian uses širiti se.

Compare:

• Vatrogasci šire crijevo. = The firefighters are extending/spreading the hose.
• Vatra se širi. = The fire is spreading.

What form is širi?

Širi is the 3rd person singular present tense form of širiti se.

It matches vatra, which is singular:

• ja se širim = I spread
• ti se širiš = you spread
• on / ona / ono se širi = he / she / it spreads

Since vatra is grammatically singular, the verb is širi.

Why is područjem in that form?