Breakdown of Kroz teleskop vidi iste zvijezde i tanke sjene oblaka o kojima čita u knjigama znanstvene fantastike.
Questions & Answers about Kroz teleskop vidi iste zvijezde i tanke sjene oblaka o kojima čita u knjigama znanstvene fantastike.
Word order in Croatian is flexible. Kroz teleskop (through the telescope) is placed first to emphasize how/where he sees things.
You could also say:
- Vidi iste zvijezde i tanke sjene oblaka kroz teleskop.
- On kroz teleskop vidi iste zvijezde i tanke sjene oblaka…
All are grammatically correct; the difference is nuance and emphasis, not grammar.
In Croatian, subject pronouns (on, ona, oni, etc.) are usually dropped when the subject is obvious from the verb form or context.
- vidi = he sees / she sees / it sees (3rd person singular)
Context (previous sentences, or the situation) tells you who vidi refers to, so adding on is often unnecessary. You can say:
- On kroz teleskop vidi…
but it sounds more explicit or emphatic, like stressing he in English.
The preposition kroz (through) always takes the accusative case.
- Nominative: teleskop
- Accusative (masc. inanimate): teleskop (same form)
So kroz teleskop is kroz + accusative.
If the noun changed in accusative (e.g. feminine), you would see the difference more clearly:
- kroz šumu (through the forest; nominative: šuma, accusative: šumu)
iste zvijezde literally means the same stars.
- zvijezde: feminine plural (nominative or accusative; here accusative plural as a direct object)
- iste: adjective isti (same) in feminine plural nominative/accusative
Adjectives must agree with nouns in gender, number, and case, so:
- singular: ista zvijezda (fem. sg.)
- plural: iste zvijezde (fem. pl.)
That’s why it is iste, not isti or isto.
tanke sjene oblaka = thin shadows of clouds.
- sjene: feminine plural accusative (direct object)
- tanke: adjective agreeing with sjene → fem. plural accusative
- oblaka: genitive plural of oblak (cloud)
So the structure is:
[tanke sjene] [oblaka]
[thin shadows] [of clouds]
If you said tankih sjena oblaka, that would put sjena into genitive plural as well and would no longer fit as the direct object of vidi. Here, the direct object must be in the accusative (sjene), so the correct form is tanke sjene.
oblaka is the genitive plural of oblak (cloud).
In Croatian, when you say shadows of something, the something is usually in the genitive:
- sjene oblaka – shadows of (the) clouds
- sjena planine – shadow of the mountain
- sjene drveća – shadows of the trees
So oblaka is genitive plural because it depends on sjene in a of X relationship.
o kojima = about which / about whom (plural).
- o is a preposition meaning about, which takes the locative case.
- kojima is the relative pronoun koji in locative plural (for all genders).
It refers back to oblaka (clouds):
- oblaci (nominative plural) → o oblacima (about clouds, locative plural)
- relative: o kojima (about which)
So oblaka o kojima čita means clouds about which he reads; the case (locative) is required by o.
No comma is needed here.
o kojima čita u knjigama znanstvene fantastike is a restrictive relative clause: it tells you which clouds (the ones he reads about in science‑fiction books), not just adding extra, non‑essential information.
Croatian normally does not use a comma before a restrictive relative clause introduced by koji/koja/koje, so:
- …tanke sjene oblaka o kojima čita… ✅
- …tanke sjene oblaka, o kojima čita… ❌ (this would sound like non‑essential extra info)
Croatian has only one present tense form, used for both:
- English simple present: he reads
- English present progressive: he is reading
So čita can mean reads or is reading, depending on context.
Aspect:
- čita is imperfective – it focuses on the ongoing or repeated activity.
- pročita is perfective – it would suggest a completed action (e.g. pročita knjigu – he reads the book through / finishes it).
Here, we are talking about a general, repeated habit (he reads about these things in sci‑fi books), so the imperfective čita is correct.
knjigama is locative plural of knjiga (book).
The preposition u (in) requires:
- accusative when it means direction (into): u knjige (into the books)
- locative when it means location (in): u knjigama (in the books)
Here it is location, so u knjigama znanstvene fantastike = in science‑fiction books.
Literally it is in books of science fiction.
- knjigama: locative plural of knjiga (in books)
- znanstvene fantastike: genitive singular of the phrase znanstvena fantastika (science fiction)
znanstvena fantastika is treated as a fixed term meaning science fiction. When one noun describes the type of another (books of science fiction), Croatian often uses the genitive:
- knjige znanstvene fantastike – books of science fiction
- filmovi znanstvene fantastike – science‑fiction films
So u knjigama znanstvene fantastike is literally in books of science fiction.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.
- kroz teleskop – through the telescope (looking through the lens)
- s teleskopom – with a telescope (he has/uses a telescope, more general)
kroz teleskop vidi… emphasizes the visual experience through the instrument.
s teleskopom vidi… could sound more like he sees these things using a telescope, without focusing specifically on looking through it.
The adjective isti means same.
- ista zvijezda – the same star (fem. sg.)
- iste zvijezde – the same stars (fem. pl.)
For this / that, Croatian uses demonstratives:
- ova zvijezda – this star
- te zvijezde – those stars (near the listener)
- one zvijezde – those stars (far away)
So iste zvijezde is the same stars, not these stars.