Mašta im pomaže da zamišljaju daleke zvijezde i planete izvan našeg grada.

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Breakdown of Mašta im pomaže da zamišljaju daleke zvijezde i planete izvan našeg grada.

• i: and
• im: them
• naš: our

Questions & Answers about Mašta im pomaže da zamišljaju daleke zvijezde i planete izvan našeg grada.

What exactly does Mašta mean here, and what kind of word is it?

Mašta means imagination.

Grammatically:

• It’s a noun, feminine gender, singular: mašta (Nominative singular).
• In this sentence it is the subject:
  
  • Mašta (subject)
  • im pomaže (helps them)

You could also say Njihova mašta im pomaže = Their imagination helps them, but it’s not necessary; mašta alone is natural and clear in Croatian.

Why is im used here, and not ih? What does im mean?

Both im and ih are pronouns meaning them, but they are different cases:

• im = to them → dative (indirect object)
• ih = them → accusative (direct object)

The verb pomoći / pomagati (to help) is used with the dative in Croatian:

• (Netko) pomaže kome? → helps whom? → im (to them)

So:

• Mašta im pomaže = Imagination helps them (literally: Imagination to-them helps).

Using ih here would be ungrammatical:

• ✗ → wrong.