Subordinate Clauses: Overview | Croatian Grammar

A subordinate clause is a clause that cannot stand alone — it hangs off a main clause, filling a slot in it: the object of I know, the which part of the book which…, the when part of when it rains. Croatian builds these much as English does, with a connecting word at the front, but three system-wide facts make the Croatian version friendlier than you might fear and trap learners who assume otherwise. First, the subordinating word hosts any following clitics. Second — the big one — Croatian does not backshift tenses the way English does. Third, the comma marks the boundary by sense and intonation, not by a rigid mechanical rule like German's. This page maps the whole system and points you to the dedicated pages for each clause type.

The three families of subordinate clause

Every subordinate clause falls into one of three jobs, each with its own set of connectors:

Family	Job	Typical connectors
Content / complement	fills a noun slot (object/subject of the main verb)	da, što, da li / li
Relative	modifies a noun (English "who/which/that")	koji, što, čiji
Adverbial	modifies the verb (time, cause, condition…)	kad, dok, čim, jer, budući da, ako, iako, da, kako bi, te

We will take one representative example of each, then turn to the three rules that cut across all of them.

Content clauses: da, što, da li / li

A content clause is the that-clause of English — the thing you know, think, want, or ask. The default connector is da ("that"); što appears with emotive reactions ("I'm glad that…"); and indirect yes/no questions use da li or the clitic li ("whether/if").

Znam da dolaziš sutra.

I know (that) you're coming tomorrow. — content clause with 'da', the object of 'znam'.

Drago mi je što si došao.

I'm glad (that) you came. — 'što' after an emotional reaction, where 'da' would sound flatter.

Pitam se da li / je li stigao vlak.

I wonder whether the train has arrived. — indirect yes/no question with 'da li' (or 'je li').

The contrast between da and što — and the various jobs of da across the grammar — is detailed on the subordinating conjunction da.

Relative clauses: koji, što, čiji

A relative clause modifies a noun and always follows it. The workhorse is koji ("who/which/that"), which agrees in gender and number with its antecedent and takes whatever case its own clause requires. Što serves as an invariable relativiser (more colloquial), and čiji is "whose."

Ovo je knjiga koju sam ti spominjao.

This is the book (that) I mentioned to you. — relative clause with 'koju' (fem. sg. accusative, matching 'knjiga' but case-marked by its own clause).

To je čovjek čiji sin igra u reprezentaciji.

That's the man whose son plays for the national team. — 'čiji' = 'whose'.

Sve što kažeš ima smisla.

Everything (that) you say makes sense. — invariable 'što' relativising 'sve'.

The full agreement-and-case behaviour of koji is on the relative pronoun koji.

Adverbial clauses: time, cause, condition, and more

Adverbial clauses answer when, why, if, although, so that, with the result that. Each notion has its own connector:

Meaning	Connectors	Example connector
time	kad(a), dok, čim, prije nego, nakon što	čim "as soon as"
cause	jer, budući da, zato što	jer "because"
condition	ako, da, ukoliko	ako "if"
concession	iako, premda, mada	iako "although"
purpose	da, kako bi	kako bi "so that"
result	da, te, tako da	te "and so"

Nazvat ću te čim stignem kući.

I'll call you as soon as I get home. — time clause with 'čim'.

Nismo izašli jer je padala kiša.

We didn't go out because it was raining. — cause clause with 'jer'.

Ako budeš imao vremena, javi se.

If you have time, get in touch. — condition clause with 'ako'.

Iako je bio umoran, ostao je do kraja.

Although he was tired, he stayed to the end. — concession clause with 'iako'.

Učim hrvatski kako bih mogao razgovarati s rodbinom.

I'm learning Croatian so that I can talk with my relatives. — purpose clause with 'kako bih'.

Time and cause clauses get their own page at subordinating time and cause; condition, concession, purpose, and result are on other subordinating conjunctions.

Rule 1: the subordinator hosts the following clitics

In a subordinate clause the connecting word counts as the first stressed unit, so clitics snap into second position right behind it. This is one of the most reliable signals that you have built the clause correctly: after da, jer, kad, koji, the clitic comes next.

Mislim da ga poznaješ.

I think (that) you know him. — the clitic 'ga' sits right after the subordinator 'da'.

Kad sam ga vidio, mahnuo mi je.

When I saw him, he waved at me. — clitics 'sam ga' follow the subordinator 'kad'.

Knjiga koju si mi dao je sjajna.

The book you gave me is great. — clitics 'si mi' lean on the relativiser 'koju'.

This is the same second-position law that governs main clauses, just with the subordinator filling the first slot. See the second-position rule for the full mechanics.

Rule 2: tenses are NOT backshifted

This is the rule that most often surprises English speakers, and getting it right is a quick win. English backshifts: "He said he was tired," "I knew you would come" — the embedded verb shifts into the past/conditional to agree with the past reporting verb. Croatian does not. The subordinate clause keeps the tense the original thought had, regardless of the main verb. You report the words as they were thought or spoken.

Rekao je da je umoran.

He said he was tired. — Croatian keeps the PRESENT 'je umoran' (lit. 'that he IS tired'); no backshift to past.

Znao sam da ćeš doći.

I knew you would come. — the embedded clause keeps the FUTURE 'ćeš doći'; English shifts 'will' to 'would', Croatian doesn't.

Mislila je da spavam.

She thought I was sleeping. — present 'spavam' stays present, matching the original 'I am sleeping'.

So the move for an English speaker is: think of what the person actually said or thought at the time, and use that tense unchanged. If the direct speech was „I am tired", the report stays in the present: Rekao je da je umoran. Do not drag the embedded verb into the past to match rekao.

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The reliable trick for reported speech: recover the original direct-speech tense and keep it. If the speaker would have said it in the present, your subordinate clause stays in the present, even after a past reporting verb. Croatian reports thoughts as they stood; English re-times them.

Rule 3: the comma marks sense, not a fixed rule

German trains its learners to put a comma before every subordinate clause, mechanically. Croatian does not work that way. The Croatian comma follows the intonation and meaning of the sentence — it marks a genuine pause or a non-essential addition, and is omitted when the clause is tightly integrated, especially when the subordinate clause comes after a short main clause.

Znam da dolaziš.

I know you're coming. — NO comma; the content clause is tightly bound to 'znam', read in one breath.

Kad stignem, javit ću ti se.

When I arrive, I'll get in touch. — comma present because the fronted clause is set off by a real pause.

Javit ću ti se kad stignem.

I'll get in touch when I arrive. — same content, but NO comma now that the time clause trails closely after the main clause.

The pattern to internalise: a fronted subordinate clause is usually set off with a comma (there is a pause); a trailing content or restrictive clause is usually not, because it is read continuously with the main clause. Do not import the German "always comma before the subordinator" reflex. Restrictive relative clauses, in particular, take no comma, while non-restrictive (parenthetical) ones do.

Ljudi koji rano ustaju produktivniji su.

People who get up early are more productive. — restrictive relative, NO comma; the clause is essential to identify which people.

Moj brat, koji živi u Splitu, dolazi sutra.

My brother, who lives in Split, is coming tomorrow. — non-restrictive, set off with commas; the clause is extra information.

Common Mistakes

❌ Rekao je da je bio umoran (for 'he said he was tired').

Usually wrong — the past 'je bio' backshifts as if in English; if he said 'I am tired', keep the present 'je umoran'.

✅ Rekao je da je umoran.

He said he was tired. — no backshift; the present is retained.

❌ Znam, da dolaziš.

Incorrect — no comma before a tightly-bound trailing content clause (the German reflex).

✅ Znam da dolaziš.

I know you're coming. — no comma; clause read in one breath.

❌ Mislim da poznaješ ga.

Incorrect — the clitic 'ga' must follow the subordinator 'da' in second position: 'da ga poznaješ'.

✅ Mislim da ga poznaješ.

I think you know him. — clitic 'ga' right after 'da'.

❌ Znao sam da bi došao (for 'I knew you would come').

Wrong tense — don't backshift 'will' to a conditional; keep the future the speaker meant.

✅ Znao sam da ćeš doći.

I knew you would come. — future 'ćeš doći' retained.

❌ Ljudi, koji rano ustaju, produktivniji su.

Incorrect — a restrictive relative clause (essential to identify which people) takes NO commas.

✅ Ljudi koji rano ustaju produktivniji su.

People who get up early are more productive. — no commas around the restrictive clause.

Key Takeaways

Subordinate clauses come in three families: content/complement (da, što, da li/li), relative (koji, što, čiji), and adverbial (time kad/dok/čim, cause jer/budući da, condition ako/da, concession iako, purpose da/kako bi, result da/te).
The subordinator hosts the following clitics in second position (da ga poznaješ, kad sam ga vidio).
Croatian does NOT backshift tenses: report the thought in the tense it originally had (Rekao je da je umoran = "he said he was tired").
The comma marks sense and intonation, not a mechanical rule — set off a fronted or non-restrictive clause, but omit the comma for tightly-bound trailing and restrictive clauses.
Each clause type has a dedicated page; this overview is the map that ties them together.

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