Questions & Answers about Putujem u novi grad; autobus je ispred kuće.
Why is the preposition u followed by novi grad in the accusative? And why is the adjective novi in this form?
When expressing movement toward a place in Croatian, u takes the accusative case. Grad (city) is a masculine inanimate noun, so its accusative singular form is grad (identical to the nominative). Adjectives agree in gender, number, and case: for masculine inanimate accusative singular you use novi. If you instead describe location (being inside), you’d switch to the locative: u novom gradu (“in a new city”).
What case does ispred govern in ispred kuće and why is kuća changed to kuće?
Ispred is a preposition that always takes the genitive case. The noun kuća (house) in genitive singular becomes kuće, so ispred kuće literally means “in front of the house.”
What is the function of je in autobus je ispred kuće?
Je is the third-person singular present of the verb biti (to be). It acts as a copula linking the subject (autobus) with the prepositional phrase (ispred kuće) that describes its location.
Why is a semicolon (;) used between Putujem u novi grad and autobus je ispred kuće? Could I use a comma or another punctuation mark?