Word
Ako želiš citirati njegove riječi, stavi ih u navodnike.
Meaning
If you want to quote his words, put them in quotation marks.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Ako želiš citirati njegove riječi, stavi ih u navodnike.
u
in
njegov
his
željeti
to want
ako
if
Questions & Answers about Ako želiš citirati njegove riječi, stavi ih u navodnike.
What does ako mean here, and why is there a comma in the sentence?
Ako means if.
The sentence has two parts:
- Ako želiš citirati njegove riječi = If you want to quote his words
- stavi ih u navodnike = put them in quotation marks
In Croatian, when a sentence begins with an ako clause, it is normally separated from the main clause with a comma, just like in English:
- Ako želiš..., stavi...
- If you want..., put...
Why does Croatian use želiš citirati with two verbs?
This is very similar to English want to quote.
- želiš = you want
- citirati = to quote
So želiš citirati literally means you want to quote.
Croatian often uses a finite verb plus an infinitive in this pattern:
- želim jesti = I want to eat
- želiš učiti = you want to study
- žele doći = they want to come
Why is there no word for you in the sentence?