Breakdown of Ukraden bicikl želim prijaviti u policijskoj postaji i potpisati zapisnik.
u
in
i
and
željeti
to want
bicikl
bicycle
Questions & Answers about Ukraden bicikl želim prijaviti u policijskoj postaji i potpisati zapisnik.
Why does the sentence start with Ukraden bicikl instead of Želim?
Croatian word order is much more flexible than English word order.
Starting with Ukraden bicikl puts that object in focus, as if saying:
- As for the stolen bicycle, I want to report it...
A more neutral, textbook-like order would be:
- Želim prijaviti ukraden bicikl u policijskoj postaji i potpisati zapisnik.
So the original sentence is not wrong; it just foregrounds the stolen bicycle.
Is bicikl the subject here?
No. The subject is understood from želim, which means I want.
So the structure is:
- (Ja) želim = I want
- ukraden bicikl = the direct object, the stolen bicycle
English speakers often expect the first noun to be the subject, but in Croatian that is not necessary.
Why is it bicikl and not some special object form?