EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons 293 / 600
If you want to ask why something happened (or something is done) start a question
with the word zašto why ®. As with other question-words, no rearrangement of the
rest is needed:
Zašto je trava mokra N ? Why is the grass wet?
— Zbog kiše G . Because of the rain.
— Jer je padala kiša N . Because it has rained.
— Jer pada kiša N . Because it’s raining.
— Pada kiša N . It’s raining.
You usually answer just with the cause, preceded by the right conjunction, as above
(conjunctions can be even left out). The same goes for purpose clauses and
precautions, but da cannot be left out in any case:
Zašto trebaš deset kuna G ? Why do you need ten kunas?
— Da kupim sendvič A . To buy a sandwich.
Zašto si zatvorio prozor N ? Why did you close the window?
— Za svaki slučaj. Just in case.
With po¨ + A:
Zašto se vraćaš? Why are you going back?
— Po kišobran A . To get the umbrella.
There are two more conjunctions that indicate cause. Both are used mostly in
writing; reason clauses using them are normally placed at the beginning:
budući da
since
pošto
The conjunction pošto is discouraged (in this role) in formal Croatian. Both
conjunctions are seldom used in answers.
There’s one fine point left. Sometimes, you’ll see, when short time adverbs – such as
sad(a) now, još still and već already – are placed after jer, second position words
come after the adverb. For example:
Ne želim knjigu A [jer¹ već¹ sam ju A ² pročitao]. I don’t want the book [because 3f A
I’ve already read it].
The same can happen with stressed pronouns (e.g. meni).
This is much rarer than the default word order, but don’t panic if you see it once a
while. This is likely done only be some speakers, when they want to specially
emphasize an adverb or a stressed pronoun.
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® In Bosnia and Serbia, you will often hear just što instead of zašto.