Questions & Answers about On traži novi posao u gradu.
Yes. Croatian usually drops subject pronouns when the subject is clear from the verb ending.
Traži novi posao u gradu. is perfectly normal and means the same thing in most contexts.
You keep On mainly:
- for emphasis (On traži…, not someone else), or
- when you introduce a new person in a story.
It can mean both. Croatian has only one present tense form here (traži) and it covers:
- English “he looks for” (habitual/general)
- English “he is looking for” (right now / currently)
Context usually makes the meaning clear. The verb tražiti is imperfective, so it focuses on the ongoing action of searching, not on the result.
Novi posao is in the accusative case as the direct object of traži.
- posao = masculine singular noun
- nominative: posao
- accusative (for inanimate masculine): posao (same form as nominative)
- novi = masculine singular adjective, accusative for an inanimate noun (same as nominative)
So the form novi posao is just normal masculine singular accusative.
You might sometimes see novog posla (genitive), but that would be used in different expressions or nuances. For simply “looking for a new job”, tražiti novi posao is the standard phrasing.
Because here u means “in” a place (location, no movement). With that meaning, u takes the locative case:
- grad (city) → locative singular: gradu
- therefore: u gradu = in the city
If there were movement into the city, u would take accusative:
- Idem u grad. = I am going to the city / into the city. (accusative)
So:
- u gradu = in the city (no movement)
- u grad = into the city (movement)
That is a normal case change. Croatian nouns change their endings depending on their grammatical role.
For grad (a regular masculine noun):
- Nominative (subject): grad
- Genitive: grada
- Dative / Locative: gradu
- Instrumental: gradom
With u meaning “in” (location), you must use the locative: gradu. So u gradu literally means “in (the) city”.
Only the pronoun and the verb ending change:
- On traži novi posao u gradu. = He is looking for a new job in the city.
- Ona traži novi posao u gradu. = She is looking for a new job in the city.
- same verb form traži (3rd person singular)
- Oni traže novi posao u gradu. = They are looking for a new job in the city.
- plural verb traže (3rd person plural)
You could still drop the pronoun if it is clear from context:
- Traži novi posao u gradu. (he/she)
- Traže novi posao u gradu. (they)
The adjective must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
- posao is masculine, singular, accusative
- so novi is also masculine, singular, accusative
Compare:
- nova knjiga (feminine) = new book
- novo selo (neuter) = new village
- novi posao (masculine) = new job
If the noun changed gender, the adjective would change as well.
Croatian does not have articles like English a/an and the.
Novi posao can be translated as either:
- a new job (indefinite)
- the new job (definite)
The difference is understood from context, not from a special word. In most neutral contexts this sentence is best translated as “He is looking for a new job in the city.”
Yes. Croatian word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:
- On traži novi posao u gradu. (neutral, S–V–O–place)
- Traži novi posao u gradu. (no pronoun; still neutral)
- U gradu on traži novi posao. (emphasis on in the city)
- On u gradu traži novi posao. (slight emphasis that it’s in the city where he’s searching)
Changing the order usually changes which element is emphasized, not the basic meaning.
- tražiti posao = to look for a job (the action of searching)
- naći posao = to find a job (the result)
So your sentence On traži novi posao u gradu. focuses on the process, not the outcome.
If you wanted “He found a new job in the city”, you could say:
- On je našao novi posao u gradu.
Novi posao is in the accusative singular and functions as the direct object of the verb traži.
Structure:
- On = subject (nominative)
- traži = verb
- novi posao = direct object (accusative)
- u gradu = adverbial phrase of place (preposition + locative)
- traži is pronounced approximately TRA-zhi:
- tr as in English “true”
- a like the a in “father”
- ž like the s in “measure” or zh in “Zhivago”
- i like ee in “see”
The letter ž always has that “zh” sound in Croatian.