Questions & Answers about Čekić je među alatima.
Why is it alatima and not alati?
Because među here is followed by the instrumental case when it means a static location, like among or in the middle of.
- dictionary form: alat = tool
- plural nominative: alati = tools
- plural instrumental: alatima
So:
- među alatima = among the tools
This is one of the most important things to notice in the sentence.
What case is čekić in this sentence?
Čekić is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence.
The structure is:
- Čekić = the hammer, subject
- je = is
- među alatima = among the tools
So grammatically, čekić is the thing being talked about.
Why is je in the second position?
In Serbian, short forms like je often behave as clitics, which usually go in the second position of the sentence or clause.
So in:
- Čekić je među alatima.
the word je comes after the first element, Čekić.
This is very normal Serbian word order.