Breakdown of Policajac će zaustaviti vozača.
hteti
will
vozač
driver
policajac
a police officer
zaustaviti
to stop; halt
Questions & Answers about Policajac će zaustaviti vozača.
How do I know policajac is the one doing the action, and vozača is the one receiving it?
Serbian uses case endings to show who does what.
- policajac is in the nominative case, which is the usual case for the subject
- vozača is in the accusative case, which is the usual case for the direct object
So this sentence means that the policeman will stop the driver, not the other way around.
In English, word order does most of that work. In Serbian, the endings help a lot.
Why is it vozača and not vozač?
Because vozača is the accusative singular form of vozač.
For masculine animate nouns in Serbian, the accusative singular usually looks like the genitive singular:
- nominative: vozač = driver
- accusative: vozača = driver, as a direct object
This happens because a driver is a person, so it counts as animate.
Compare:
- Vidim vozača. = I see the driver.
- Vidim automobil. = I see the car.
With automobil (inanimate), the accusative looks the same as the nominative. With vozač (animate), it changes.
What does će mean here?