Čitaonica ima zbirku.

to have

Breakdown of Čitaonica ima zbirku.

• čitaonica: a reading room
• zbirka: a collection

Questions & Answers about Čitaonica ima zbirku.

What does čitaonica mean exactly? Is it the same as library?

Not exactly.

Čitaonica usually means reading room or study room: a place where people sit and read. In some contexts it can be part of a library, but the usual Serbian word for library is biblioteka.

So Čitaonica ima zbirku. most literally means something like The reading room has a collection.

Why is it zbirku and not zbirka?

Because zbirku is in the accusative case.

The verb imati = to have normally takes a direct object, and direct objects are often in the accusative in Serbian.

• zbirka = nominative singular
• zbirku = accusative singular

So:

• Čitaonica = the subject, in nominative
• ima zbirku = has a collection, where zbirku is the object

This is very common with feminine nouns ending in -a:

• knjiga → knjigu
• škola → školu
• zbirka → zbirku

What form is ima?