EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 88 Weird Words and Construcons 486 / 600
Such combinations appear as a kind of indeclinable adjective + a noun, in writing and
in speech, where the word majoneza mayonnaise ® is in A, but the name preceding it
is not:
Voliš Zvijezda majonezu A ? Do you like Zvijezda mayonnaise?
(The last sentence is an example from the internet, promoting the product.)
We continue with more ‘weird’ things: end-stressed nouns ®. There’s a number of
nouns – all loanwords, that is, words taken from other languages – that end on a
stressed vowel (other than a). Despite the ending, they are all masculine, and the
end vowel is never dropped – case endings are simply attached to it. Examples are:
file filet → u fileu
kanu canoe → u kanuu
separe restoran booth → u separeu
The two consecutive vowels are pronounced separately, e.g. DL kanuu is
pronounced as three syllables: ka-nu-u.
Then, most masculine nouns in -a in plural can get feminine adjectives and past
forms, although masculine adjectives and past forms are common too ®. For
example:
Ubojica N je uhvaćen N . The murderer was captured. ®
Ubojice N su uhvaćeni N . The murderers were captured.
Ubojice N su uhvaćene N . (also possible, the same meaning)
This virtually never happens for the noun tata m Dad – it’s almost always considered
masculine in plural.®
There’s one use of masculine gender that’s completely unexpected. The rule is: if
two neuter nouns are linked by an i¨, and they are not both in plural, they together
behave as masculine plural, i.e. adjectives and past forms are in masculine plural
have to be used:
More N i nebo N su bili crni N . The sea and the sky were black.
Jelo N i piće N nisu uključeni N . Food and drink are not included.
However, if both nouns are neuter and both are in plural, the neuter adjectives and
past forms in plural are used:
Ramena N i koljena N su ogrebana N . Shoulders and knees are scratched.
This is a completely weird rule, I have to admit. Even weirder, it often applies to