EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease 301 / 600
(sv- +), the neuter singular forms are used for things, and masc. plural forms for
people:
Ostali N će doći sutra. The rest (of them) will come tomorrow.
Ostalo N će doći sutra. The rest (of it) will come tomorrow.
These two adjectives-used-as-pronouns are often used together, meaning all the
rest:
Svi ostali N su u dvorištu DL . ‘All others are in the yard.’
Sve ostalo N je u kutiji DL . All the rest is in the box.
The verb pair derived with po- is similar to biti (je² +) be – it corresponds to English
become or to English get with adjectives:
Postat će tata N . He’ll become a dad.
Postajem gladna N . I’m becoming/getting hungry. (impf., I = female) postajati
This verb, like be, usually uses objects in N (e.g. tata dad is obviously in N)! It’s also
used with weather expressions and subjective experiences of the environment,
again in the similar way as biti (je² +) be:
Postaje° vruće. It’s getting hot. (impf.)
postajati
Postalo je hladno. It became cold.
Postaje° nam DL vruće. We’re getting hot. (impf.)
postajati | 1pl
Postalo mi DL je hladno. I got/became cold.
1
The verb pair derived with ne- means roughly disappear, but it also covers meaning
run out, and is also used when e.g. there’s suddenly no electricity, water... or even
beer in the fridge. The prefix comes from negation historically, but it’s always
spelled together with the verb in this case.
What is interesting with this verb pair is that often uses indefinite quantities
(expressed by nouns in G) as their subjects, and consequently, as default for
quantities, the verb behaves as if the subject is neuter singular:
Nestalo je benzina G . The petrol ran out.
Nestalo je struje G . The electricity is out.
The same thing can be expressed also with the negative existential:
Nema° više benzina G . There’s no more petrol.
Nema° više struje G . The electricity is out.
The verb pair derived with pre- is usually used with impf. verbs in infinitive, or with
some noun that can "last" and then "stop" (e.g. rain, road, danger):
Kiša N je prestala. The rain stopped.
Goran N je prestao plakati. Goran stopped crying.
You’ll often see the base pair used in the first construction (just a subject) with the
same meaning: