Breakdown of Moj sin voli sendvič sa šunkom i sirom.
Questions & Answers about Moj sin voli sendvič sa šunkom i sirom.
The form of moj (my) depends on the grammatical gender of the noun it describes.
- sin (son) is masculine singular.
- The masculine singular form of my is moj.
Other forms of moj:
- moja = my (feminine singular), e.g. moja kćer (my daughter)
- moje = my (neuter singular), e.g. moje dijete (my child)
- moji = my (masculine plural), e.g. moji sinovi (my sons)
So with sin, you must say Moj sin.
The verb voli comes from voljeti, which can mean both to like and to love. Context tells you which English verb fits better.
- For food, hobbies, etc., English usually prefers like:
- Moj sin voli sendvič... → My son likes a / the ham and cheese sandwich.
- For people, family, partners, pets, English often prefers love:
- Volim svoju obitelj. → I love my family.
Croatian doesn’t strictly separate like/love the way English does.
Voli is the 3rd person singular present tense of voljeti.
- Moj sin = he → 3rd person singular
- 3rd person singular of voljeti is voli
Some forms of voljeti in the present:
- (ja) volim – I like / love
- (ti) voliš – you like / love (singular, informal)
- (on/ona/ono) voli – he / she / it likes / loves
- (mi) volimo – we like / love
- (vi) volite – you like / love (plural or formal)
- (oni/one/ona) vole – they like / love
So with Moj sin, the verb must be voli.
Sendvič is the direct object of voli, so it’s in the accusative case.
For inanimate masculine singular nouns, the accusative form is the same as the nominative:
- Nominative: sendvič – sandwich (subject)
- Accusative: sendvič – sandwich (object)
Compare with an animate masculine noun, where the form does change:
- Nominative: sin – son
- Accusative: sina – (I see) my son → Vidim sina.
So:
- Moj sin voli sendvič. – My son likes (the) sandwich.
The form looks the same, but grammatically it’s accusative.
The phrase sa šunkom i sirom uses the instrumental case, which is often used after s/sa (with).
- šunka (ham) → šunkom (with ham) – instrumental singular
- sir (cheese) → sirom (with cheese) – instrumental singular
So structurally, it’s:
- sendvič (accusative, direct object)
- sa + šunkom i sirom (instrumental, “with ham and cheese”)
The ending -om is a common instrumental singular ending for many masculine and feminine nouns.
The basic preposition is s (with), but Croatian often uses the longer form sa:
- Before words starting with s-, z-, š-, ž- to avoid a tongue‑twister:
- sa šunkom, sa sirom, sa šećerom, sa ženom
- Sometimes for euphony even if not strictly required.
Using sa šunkom is the natural, standard choice; s šunkom is grammatically possible but sounds awkward to most speakers.
Sa is not a different preposition; it is a phonetic variant of s.
- They have the same meaning: with.
- They take the same case: instrumental.
You choose s or sa mainly based on pronunciation and flow, not on meaning.
By default, sa šunkom i sirom means with ham and cheese together in the same sandwich.
If you wanted to say with ham or cheese, you would use ili (or):
- sendvič sa šunkom ili sirom – a sandwich with ham or cheese.
So i = and, ili = or.
Yes, Croatian has flexible word order, but there are natural preferences.
- The normal, neutral sentence is:
- Moj sin voli sendvič sa šunkom i sirom.
Other orders are possible, but usually sound emphatic or odd:
- Moj sin sendvič voli sa šunkom i sirom. – unnatural in everyday speech.
- Sendvič sa šunkom i sirom moj sin voli. – could be used for emphasis on that kind of sandwich, but you’d usually add intonation and context.
For learners, stick with subject–verb–object:
Moj sin voli sendvič sa šunkom i sirom.
You can say Sin voli sendvič..., but it sounds like you’re talking about “the son” in a general or known context, not clearly my son.
- Moj sin voli... – clearly my son.
- Sin voli... – could be the son (someone we both know), or sound like a title (e.g. in a story).
In everyday communication, if you mean my son, it’s natural to keep moj unless the context is already very clear.
You need the plural forms for son, my, like, and sandwich:
- Moj sin voli sendvič sa šunkom i sirom.
→ My son likes a ham and cheese sandwich.
Plural:
- Moji sinovi vole sendviče sa šunkom i sirom.
- moji – my (masculine plural)
- sinovi – sons
- vole – they like / love (3rd person plural of voljeti)
- sendviče – sandwiches (accusative plural of sendvič)
No. Croatian has no articles like English a/an or the.
- Moj sin voli sendvič sa šunkom i sirom. can mean:
- My son likes a ham and cheese sandwich.
- My son likes the ham and cheese sandwich.
Context usually makes clear whether you mean a or the. If you really want to specify a particular sandwich, you can add a demonstrative:
- Moj sin voli taj sendvič sa šunkom i sirom. – My son likes that ham and cheese sandwich.
- š – like English sh in shop:
- šunka, šunkom → shoon-ka, shoon-kom
- č – like ch in church, but usually a bit harder:
- sendvič → send-vich
(There is also ć in Croatian, which is a slightly softer ch sound, but it does not appear in this sentence.)
So sendvič sa šunkom i sirom roughly sounds like:
SEND-vich sa SHOON-kom ee SEE-rom.
Yes. Sendvič is a loanword from English sandwich, adapted to Croatian spelling and pronunciation:
- a → e in sen-
- final -ch becomes -č
It behaves like a normal Croatian masculine noun:
- Nominative: sendvič
- Accusative singular: sendvič
- Genitive singular: sendviča
- Nominative plural: sendviči
Two points here:
Word order of ham and cheese:
- sa sirom i šunkom is grammatically fine; it just swaps the order.
- The usual collocation is sa šunkom i sirom, but both are correct.
s sirom vs sa sirom:
- sa sirom is strongly preferred, because s sirom is hard to pronounce.
So a natural alternative is:
- Moj sin voli sendvič sa sirom i šunkom. – My son likes a sandwich with cheese and ham.
But the original order sa šunkom i sirom is the most typical.