Learn Hardcore Croatian: Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera je teško. - Explaining grammar without examples is hard.

It is grammatically a noun, neuter singular, in the nominative case here.
It functions as the subject of the sentence:
Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera (subject) je teško (predicate).

In meaning, it corresponds closely to English “explaining” used as a noun (as in “Explaining grammar is hard”), or “the act of explaining.”

Why do we use objašnjavanje and not the infinitive objašnjavati?

Both are actually possible, but they are slightly different:

Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera je teško.
– Uses a noun (objašnjavanje).
– Feels a bit more formal / bookish, like “The explanation of grammar without examples is difficult” or “Explaining grammar…”.
Objašnjavati gramatiku bez primjera je teško.
– Uses the infinitive (objašnjavati).
– Sounds more neutral / colloquial, closer to “To explain grammar without examples is hard.”

Both sentences are correct. The version with objašnjavanje treats the action more clearly as a thing (a conceptual activity), while the infinitive version focuses more on the act of doing it.

How is objašnjavanje formed from the verb objašnjavati?

It’s formed by making a verbal noun from the verb:

Verb (infinitive): objašnjavati (to explain, imperfective)
Verbal noun: objašnjavanje (explaining, the act of explaining)

Very roughly, for many -ati / -avati verbs you:

Take the verb stem:
objašnjava- (from objašnjavati)
Add a suffix like -nje / -anje / -vanje.
Here: objašnjava
- nje → objašnjavanje (with a small consonant change).

Other similar pairs:

čitati → čitanje (reading)
ponavljati → ponavljanje (repeating, repetition)
pripremati → pripremanje (preparing)

Why is gramatike in the genitive case?

Gramatike is the genitive singular of gramatika.

When a verb is turned into a verbal noun, its object is often expressed with the genitive rather than the accusative. Conceptually, it often corresponds to English “of”:

Verb: objašnjavati gramatiku – “to explain grammar” (object in accusative: gramatiku)
Noun phrase: objašnjavanje gramatike – “explanation of grammar” / “explaining of grammar” (object now in genitive: gramatike)

So:

Objašnjavanje (čega?) gramatike – “explaining (of what?) of grammar”

This čega? question is the standard genitive question in Croatian and shows why gramatike is in the genitive.

Could we say objašnjavanje gramatiku with the accusative instead of objašnjavanje gramatike?

No, that would be felt as ungrammatical or very wrong in standard Croatian.

Once you use the verbal noun objašnjavanje, the thing being explained is normally put in the genitive:

✅ objašnjavanje gramatike
❌ objašnjavanje gramatiku

There are a few special nouns in Croatian that can still take an accusative object (like čitanje knjigu in some styles), but with objašnjavanje the genitive is the natural and correct choice.

Why is primjera in the genitive, and is it singular or plural?

Primjera here is in the genitive case because of the preposition bez:

bez (without) always takes the genitive:
- bez šećera (without sugar)
- bez prijatelja (without friends)
- bez pomoći (without help)

For primjer (example):

Nominative singular: primjer
Genitive singular: primjera
Genitive plural: primjera (same written form)

So primjera can be genitive singular or plural.

In this sentence, the most natural interpretation is plural:
bez primjera ≈ “without examples” (in general), but grammatically it could in principle also be understood as “without an example.” Context usually tells you which is meant; here, it’s clearly general and plural in meaning.

Is there a way to make the plural primjera look different from the singular?

In standard spelling, no. Both genitive singular and genitive plural are written primjera.

In careful phonetic description or in dictionaries, you might see the long vowel in the plural marked, e.g. primjerā, to show the difference in stress and length, but this is not reflected in everyday orthography.

So in normal writing, primjera can be either:

genitive singular: “of an example / of the example”
genitive plural: “of examples”

In context, bez primjera generally means “without examples (at all)”, so it is plural in meaning here.

Why do we need je? Could Croatian drop “to be” here like some other Slavic languages?

In standard Croatian, you normally must use the verb biti (“to be”) in the present tense in sentences like this:

Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera je teško.

Here, je is 3rd person singular present of biti and acts as the linking verb (copula) connecting the subject with the adjective:

Subject: Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera
Verb: je
Predicate adjective: teško

Leaving it out:

Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera teško.

would sound like a headline or note, not like a normal full sentence. In everyday standard speech and writing, je is required.

Why is teško in the neuter form and not težak or teška?

Adjectives in Croatian agree with the gender and number of the noun they describe.

The base adjective is: težak, teška, teško (masc, fem, neut).

Here, the subject objašnjavanje is:

a neuter, singular noun (like most verbal nouns in -anje / -enje).

So the predicate adjective must also be:

neuter singular nominative → teško

If the subject were masculine or feminine, the adjective would change:

Ovaj zadatak je težak. (masc) – This task is hard.
Ova vježba je teška. (fem) – This exercise is hard.
Objašnjavanje je teško. (neut) – Explaining is hard.

Can we change the word order, for example Teško je objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera or Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera teško je?

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and both of these are grammatically correct:

Teško je objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera.
- Puts teško first, emphasizing the difficulty:
  “It is hard, explaining grammar without examples.”
Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera teško je.
- Less common and more marked, but still possible; it can sound a bit poetic or emphatic, stressing teško at the end.

The original:

Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera je teško.

is the most neutral order: subject → verb → complement.

What is the difference between objašnjavanje and objašnjenje? Could we say Objašnjenje gramatike bez primjera je teško?

Both nouns come from the idea of explaining, but they are not the same:

objašnjavanje
- a process noun – the ongoing activity of explaining
- closer to English “explaining” as an activity
objašnjenje
- a result noun – the explanation itself, the thing you give or receive
- like English “an explanation”

So:

Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera je teško.
– “Explaining grammar without examples is hard.” (focusing on the process)
Objašnjenje gramatike bez primjera je teško.
– “An explanation of grammar without examples is hard.”
(grammatical, but sounds odd in meaning: it says that the explanation itself is hard, usually to understand or to produce in that form.)

For talking about the difficulty of teaching/explaining, objašnjavanje is the natural choice.

Why is the sentence in the singular? Could we talk about explanations in general using a plural?

Croatian, like English, often uses a singular verbal noun to talk about an activity in general:

Objašnjavanje gramatike bez primjera je teško.
– “Explaining grammar without examples is hard (in general).”

You could theoretically make it plural:

Objašnjavanja gramatike bez primjera su teška.

This is grammatically possible but sounds heavy and awkward; it suggests multiple distinct acts of explaining, each one difficult. For a general statement about how hard this kind of activity is, the singular is the normal and preferred form.