Greek to Croatian: the preposition after depend belongs to the whole verb construction
Greek από does not always identify where something comes from
Greek εξαρτώμαι από expresses a dependence relationship. A Croatian translation should preserve that relationship through the target verb’s required construction rather than choose a preposition by an isolated gloss such as from. The source preposition is part of the way the Greek verb links its dependent participant.
The Greek dictionary illustrates the construction in statements about depending on somebody and about one word depending on another. Its meaning therefore need not involve physical departure or an origin. A message about somebody’s dependence on family support is not a travel statement, even though από also occurs in expressions identifying where someone comes from.
The Croatian school grammar explicitly recommends Ovisio je o roditeljima rather than its rejected alternative with od. Its discussion calls this government: the head determines the form of its dependent. The correction is valuable for this translation direction because a literal from-style choice can resemble the rejected pattern while missing the Croatian verb’s construction.
Changing the complement can change the relationship
Imagine a Greek message saying that a student depends on their parents financially. The parents are the source of support in an everyday sense, but grammatically the target phrase needs to complete the verb meaning depend. Selecting a preposition normally associated with origin merely because support comes from them would let an explanatory paraphrase override the required Croatian construction.
Now compare a statement that the student received a letter from their parents. Here the source really does identify where the letter came from. The two messages can mention the same people and even share the Greek preposition, yet the target verb relates to those people differently. A translation must interpret each whole predicate instead of carrying one preposition choice from the first sentence into the second.
The Croatian grammar also separates agreement from government. Its agreement examples match a modifier with its head in gender, number, and case, whereas a governed complement can take a different form from the word governing it. Thus the noun referring to the parents need not copy the grammatical form of the student. Making both look parallel would not preserve the dependence relationship.
This distinction remains useful when the Greek subject is not stated as an independent pronoun. Greek finite person and number can identify who depends on someone, while the complement identifies the person or institution depended upon. A Croatian translation must not promote the complement to subject simply because it is the most visible noun phrase in the short source message.
For a practical explanation of support, responsibility, or dependence, first identify who relies on whom and which verb expresses that relationship. Then select the Croatian complement construction associated with that verb. The Greek από phrase contributes a real relationship, but its target form comes from Croatian government rather than a permanent word-for-word equation with a single preposition.
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