Breakdown of Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu; to je važno pravilo u našem gradu.
Questions & Answers about Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu; to je važno pravilo u našem gradu.
The verb nositi can mean both “to wear” (clothes, accessories) and “to carry” (an object) in Croatian.
In this sentence, Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu, context makes it clear that nosi means “wears”:
- nositi kacigu = to wear a helmet (on your head)
- You could also say nositi kaput (to wear a coat), nositi naočale (to wear glasses).
If you wanted to emphasize carrying, you might add something like sa sobom (with her):
- Uvijek nosi kacigu sa sobom. – She always carries a helmet with her.
Kaciga is a feminine noun. In the sentence it’s the direct object of the verb nositi (What does she wear? The helmet), so it must be in the accusative case.
Feminine nouns ending in -a typically change like this in singular:
- Nominative (dictionary form, subject): kaciga – the helmet (as subject)
- Accusative (direct object): kacigu – the helmet (as object)
So:
- Kaciga je nova. – The helmet is new. (subject → nominative)
- Moja sestra nosi kacigu. – My sister wears a helmet. (object → accusative)
The possessive pronoun moj has to agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies.
- sestra is feminine, singular, nominative.
- The feminine singular nominative form of moj is moja.
Forms of moj in the nominative singular:
- moj – masculine (e.g. moj brat – my brother)
- moja – feminine (e.g. moja sestra – my sister)
- moje – neuter (e.g. moje dijete – my child)
So Moja sestra is the only correct choice here.
Uvijek means “always” and is an adverb. Croatian word order is flexible, but some positions sound more natural.
Most natural and neutral positions:
- Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu.
- Moja sestra nosi uvijek kacigu na biciklu. (still OK, but the first is more common)
You can also start with the adverb for emphasis:
- Uvijek moja sestra nosi kacigu na biciklu. – Emphasis on “always”, sounds more stylistic or emotional.
So the usual, most natural order is with uvijek just before or just after the verb nosi, and Moja sestra uvijek nosi… is the most typical.
Bicikl is a masculine noun. Croatian prepositions often change meaning depending on which case they take.
na + locative = location (where something is)
na + accusative = direction (to where something is moving)
- na biciklu (locative: biciklu) – on the bicycle (location, while she is riding it)
- na bicikl (accusative: bicikl) – onto the bicycle (movement onto it)
In the sentence:
- Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu.
→ “on the bike” (while she is on it), so locative is correct: biciklu.
The base (dictionary) form is bicikl – nominative singular.
In na biciklu, the word biciklu is in the locative singular. Typical singular cases for bicikl:
- Nominative: bicikl – The bike is new. (Bicikl je nov.)
- Accusative: bicikl – I have a bike. (Imam bicikl.)
- Locative: biciklu – On the bike. (Na biciklu.)
Because the preposition na here expresses location (on the bike), it requires locative, so biciklu is used.
Croatian has no articles (no words for “a/an” or “the”).
Na biciklu can mean:
- on a bike
- on the bike
- on her bike
The exact meaning comes from context, not from a separate article word. If you really want to stress that it is her own bike, you could say:
- Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na svom biciklu. – My sister always wears a helmet on her own bike.
But in normal conversation na biciklu is usually clear enough.
The pronoun to here is a neutral demonstrative pronoun meaning “that” or “it”, and it refers to the whole idea of the previous clause:
- the rule that my sister always wears a helmet on her bike.
So:
- …; to je važno pravilo u našem gradu.
→ “…; that is an important rule in our city.”
This use of to is very common when commenting on a previous sentence, situation, or fact.
Adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
- pravilo (rule) is neuter, singular, nominative.
- So the adjective važan (important) must be in neuter singular nominative: važno.
Nominative singular forms of važan:
- Masculine: važan (važan zakon – important law)
- Feminine: važna (važna odluka – important decision)
- Neuter: važno (važno pravilo – important rule)
So važno pravilo is the correct agreement.
U našem gradu uses the locative case, because u here expresses location (where something is true).
- grad – city (nominative singular)
- gradu – locative singular
- naš – our
- našem – locative singular (masc./neuter), agreeing with gradu
So:
- u našem gradu = in our city (location → locative)
If it were movement into the city, you would see the accusative instead:
- Idemo u naš grad. – We are going to our city. (accusative: grad)
Našeg grada would be genitive singular (of our city), which is not required by the preposition u in this context.
With u:
- u + locative → where? (in/on/at somewhere)
- u našem gradu – in our city
- u + accusative → where to? (movement into)
- u naš grad – into our city
Genitive (našeg grada) is used after some other prepositions (e.g. iz našeg grada – from our city), but not after u when it means simple location.
Yes, that is grammatically correct.
- U našem gradu moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu.
This version puts extra emphasis on the place (“In our city…”), similar to starting your English sentence with “In our city, my sister always…”.
Word order in Croatian is quite flexible, so you can move u našem gradu to the front for emphasis or style without changing the basic meaning.
The semicolon is not strictly necessary; it is more of a stylistic choice.
You could write:
- Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu. To je važno pravilo u našem gradu.
– Two separate sentences (very common).
Or you could explicitly connect them with a conjunction:
- Moja sestra uvijek nosi kacigu na biciklu, jer je to važno pravilo u našem gradu.
– “…because it is an important rule…”
The original with a semicolon:
- …; to je važno pravilo u našem gradu.
is slightly more formal or literary, but perfectly correct.