Shawn
Community Tutor
Croatian: Are these "I don't know..." sentences even close to being correct? 1. Ne znam pročitao li je Dan knjigu. = I don't know whether Dan read the book. 2. Ne znam kada Dan je pročitao knjigu. = I don't know when Dan read the book. 3. Ne znam gdje Dan je pročitao knjigu. = I don't know where Dan read the book. 4. Ne znam zašto Dan je pročitao knjigu. = I don't know why Dan read the book. 5. Ne znam kako Dan je pročitao knjigu. = I don't know how Dan read the book. 6. Ne znam kto je pročitao knjigu. = I don't know who read the book.
May 26, 2015 6:02 AM
Answers · 9
1
The usual problem with the word order is where to put these clitics (short form of the verb TO BE, pronouns etc.) The rule is that they usually follow the first accented word/phrase in the sentence or in the clause. Examples: Dan je procitao knjigu. (Dan is the first accented word and JE follows it) Procitao je knjigu. (Dan/subject is omitted and now the word order changes because JE can not stay on the beginning of the sentence, it must follow some other accented word or phrase) Ne znam gdje je Dan prociato knjigu. There are two clauses in this sentence 1) Ne znam 2) Gdje je Dan procitao knjigu. Since JE is in the second clause, JE again follows the first accented word here and that is GDJE. Look some other examples. Dosao je automobilom u skolu. He came to school by bus. U skolu je dosao automobilom. Automobilom je dosao u skolu. If you pay attention, you will see that JE is always on the "second place" after some other accented word or meaningful phrase and all other words are flexible regarding the word order.
May 27, 2015
1
Even Croatian language is language without strong word order, your sentence aren't completely correct. Here are the correct sentences (corrections are written with capital letters): 1. Ne znam JE LI DAN PROČITAO knjigu. = I don't know whether Dan read the book. 2. Ne znam kada JE DAN pročitao knjigu. = I don't know when Dan read the book. 3. Ne znam gdje JE DAN pročitao knjigu. = I don't know where Dan read the book. 4. Ne znam zašto JE DAN pročitao knjigu. = I don't know why Dan read the book. 5. Ne znam kako JE DAN pročitao knjigu. = I don't know how Dan read the book. 6. Ne znam TKO je pročitao knjigu. = I don't know who read the book.
May 26, 2015
1. Ne znam JE LI DAN pročitao knjigu. = I don't know whether Dan read the book. 2. Ne znam kada JE Dan pročitao knjigu. = I don't know when Dan read the book. 3. Ne znam gdje JE Dan pročitao knjigu. = I don't know where Dan read the book. 4. Ne znam zašto JE Dan pročitao knjigu. = I don't know why Dan read the book. 5. Ne znam kako JE Dan pročitao knjigu. = I don't know how Dan read the book. 6. Ne znam kto je pročitao knjigu. = I don't know who read the book. Just like in the English language, after "when" , "where", "when", "how", "why" always comes the verb "to be" then the personal pronoun. Follow the Ivana's instructions cause she explained you really good.
June 4, 2015
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