Tko je onaj čovjek pokraj fontane?

Tko means who and is used for asking about a person.

So in this sentence:

• Tko = who
• je = is
• onaj čovjek = that man
• pokraj fontane = next to / by the fountain

A useful contrast is:

• tko = who
• što = what

So you use tko because the question is about a person.

Je is the 3rd person singular present form of biti (to be), meaning is.

In Croatian, short unstressed forms like je often go in the second position of the sentence or clause. This is a very common Croatian word-order pattern.

So:

• Tko je onaj čovjek pokraj fontane?

sounds natural.

Even though English says Who is that man...?, Croatian does not copy English word order exactly. The placement of je after the first element is normal.

Onaj means that.

Croatian has a three-way distinction that English usually does not show clearly:

• ovaj = this (near me)
• taj = that (near you / already mentioned / contextually known)
• onaj = that over there (farther away)

So onaj čovjek suggests that man over there.

In real conversation, the difference between taj and onaj can sometimes be looser, but this is the basic idea.

Čovjek means man or human being, depending on context. Here it means man.

It appears in the nominative singular because onaj čovjek is the subject of the sentence:

• Tko je onaj čovjek...? = Who is that man...?

The basic dictionary form is also čovjek, so this is the expected form here.

Because pokraj requires the genitive case.

The noun is:

• fontana = fountain

After pokraj (next to / beside / by), it changes to genitive singular:

• fontane

So:

• pokraj fontane = next to the fountain

This is a very important pattern in Croatian: many prepositions require a specific case.

Pokraj takes the genitive.

That is why you get:

• pokraj fontane
• not pokraj fontana

Other examples:

• pokraj kuće = next to the house
• pokraj škole = next to the school
• pokraj auta = next to the car

So if you learn pokraj, it is a good idea to memorize it together with the rule:

• pokraj + genitive

Yes. These are all common ways to express next to / beside / by:

• pokraj fontane
• pored fontane
• kraj fontane

All are understandable and natural. The exact preference can depend on speaker, region, or style.

Very roughly:

• pokraj can sound a bit more formal or careful
• pored is very common in everyday speech
• kraj is also common, but in some contexts it can also mean at the end of depending on usage

In this sentence, all three can work.

Croatian does not have articles like English a and the.

So Croatian does not translate the as a separate word.

Instead, definiteness is understood from context, word order, demonstratives, and meaning. In this sentence, onaj čovjek already makes it clear that you mean a specific man:

• onaj čovjek = that man

Because of that, there is no need for an article.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide would be:

• Tko ≈ tko
• je ≈ yeh
• onaj ≈ oh-nai
• čovjek ≈ CHO-vyek
• pokraj ≈ PO-krai
• fontane ≈ fon-TA-ne

A few key sounds:

• č sounds like ch in church
• j sounds like y in yes
• je is usually pronounced like ye

Also, Croatian spelling is quite regular, so once you know the sound values of the letters, pronunciation becomes much easier than in English.

In standard Croatian, tko is the normal form for who.

You may also hear ko in some colloquial speech or in neighboring varieties, but if you are learning standard Croatian, tko is the form to use.

So:

• standard Croatian: Tko je onaj čovjek?

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English, but not every version sounds equally natural.

The standard, natural version is:

• Tko je onaj čovjek pokraj fontane?

You might also hear variations in special contexts, for example for emphasis, but the original sentence is the best neutral form for learners.

Because Croatian uses case endings, word order can move more freely than in English, but the placement of short words like je still follows important patterns.

It can mean both, depending on context.

• In many contexts, čovjek = man
• In others, it can mean human being or person

In this sentence, because of onaj and the situation being pointed out visually, the most natural translation is that man.

If you wanted a clearly gender-neutral word for person, Croatian often uses osoba.

A few simple answers could be:

• To je moj susjed. = That is my neighbor.
• To je Marko. = That is Marko.
• Ne znam. = I don't know.
• On radi ovdje. = He works here.

A very common answer pattern is:

• To je ... = That is ...

For example:

• Tko je onaj čovjek pokraj fontane?
• To je moj profesor. = That is my teacher.