Word
Nije važno tko je bio kriv; važnije je da jedno drugome oprostimo.
Meaning
It is not important who was wrong; it is more important that we forgive each other.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Nije važno tko je bio kriv; važnije je da jedno drugome oprostimo.
biti
to be
ne
not
važan
important
tko
who
Questions & Answers about Nije važno tko je bio kriv; važnije je da jedno drugome oprostimo.
Why are važno and važnije in the neuter singular?
Because Croatian often uses the neuter singular in impersonal statements like:
- Važno je... = It is important...
- Dobro je... = It is good...
- Teško je... = It is hard...
Here, the thing being described is not a noun like problem or odluka, but a whole clause:
- tko je bio kriv
- da jedno drugome oprostimo
So Croatian uses the neuter singular predicative form: važno and its comparative važnije.
Why is it tko, not ko?
In standard Croatian, tko is the normal word for who.
- Tko je došao? = Who came?
- Tko je bio kriv? = Who was at fault?
You may hear ko in colloquial speech or in other varieties of the language, but tko is the standard Croatian form.
Why does it say tko je bio kriv with masculine forms bio and kriv?
Because tko is grammatically treated as masculine singular when the person’s gender is unknown or not specified.
So Croatian says: