Learn Hardcore Croatian: Tvoji i njihovi prijatelji čitaju knjige. - Your friends and their friends are reading books.

They are possessive adjectives (sometimes called possessive pronouns in English grammar). tvoji means “your” (informal singular) and njihovi means “their,” both modifying the noun that follows.

Why do tvoji and njihovi end in -i?

In Croatian, adjectives (including possessive adjectives) must agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. Here, prijatelji is masculine animate plural in the nominative case, so both tvoji and njihovi take the masculine animate plural nominative ending -i.

What is the case and number of prijatelji here?

prijatelji is in the masculine animate plural nominative. It’s the subject of the sentence (“friends” in English), hence nominative.

Why is knjige in this form, and which case is it?

knjige is the plural form of knjiga (“book”). As the direct object of čitaju (“they are reading”), it’s in the accusative plural. For feminine nouns like knjiga, the nominative plural and accusative plural forms look identical (knjige), but its role as object makes it accusative.

What person and number is the verb čitaju?

čitaju is the third person plural present tense form of čitati (“to read”). It agrees with the plural subject prijatelji (“friends”).

Why is there no separate pronoun for “they” in the sentence?

Croatian is a pro-drop language: the verb ending -ju in čitaju already tells you it’s “they.” You don’t need an explicit oni (“they”) unless you want extra emphasis.

Can you reverse the order to say njihovi i tvoji prijatelji čitaju knjige?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, so njihovi i tvoji prijatelji čitaju knjige is grammatically correct. However, the emphasis might shift—placing njihovi first may subtly highlight “their friends” before “your friends.”

Are tvoji and njihovi referring to the same group of friends or two different groups?

They refer to two different possession markers applied to the same noun: “your friends and their friends.” It doesn’t necessarily mean the exact same people belong to both you and them; it just lists both sets of friends doing the reading.