Questions & Answers about Svaka rečenica u udžbeniku je važna.
Why is svaka used instead of sve if the English meaning is “Every sentence in the textbook is important”?
Croatian distinguishes between:
- svaka rečenica = every sentence (focus on each individual sentence, singular)
- sve rečenice = all the sentences (focus on the group as a whole, plural)
Svaka is the feminine singular form of the determiner/pronoun svaki (“every, each”). It must agree in gender and number with rečenica (which is feminine singular). That’s why we say:
- Svaka rečenica je važna. – Every sentence is important.
- Sve rečenice su važne. – All (the) sentences are important.
Why is it svaka rečenica and not svaki rečenica?
In Croatian, determiners and adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number and case.
- rečenica is a feminine noun.
- svaki is the masculine form (“every” for masculine nouns).
- The feminine form of svaki is svaka.
So you must match the gender:
- svaki student (masculine) – every (male) student
- svaka rečenica (feminine) – every sentence
- svako dijete (neuter) – every child