A weather forecast is one of the densest, most predictable registers in Croatian — and that makes it a perfect grammar workout. In a few sentences it concentrates almost everything that is impersonal in the language: subjectless weather verbs (pada "it's raining", puše "the wind blows"), the future I tense for predictions (bit će sunčano "it will be sunny"), the regional prepositions that split the country into coast and interior (na Jadranu "on the Adriatic", u unutrašnjosti "in the interior"), and temperatures wrapped in the genitive. Decode one forecast and you can decode them all. Here is an original short forecast for tomorrow; read it through, then go sentence by sentence.
The forecast
Vremenska prognoza za sutra.
Weather forecast for tomorrow.
Ujutro će na Jadranu biti vedro i sunčano, uz slab do umjeren maestral.
In the morning it will be clear and sunny on the Adriatic, with a weak to moderate mistral wind.
U unutrašnjosti se zadržava magla, a poslijepodne mjestimice pada slaba kiša.
In the interior fog persists, and in the afternoon light rain falls in places.
Na sjeveru zemlje puše jak i hladan sjeverac.
In the north of the country a strong, cold north wind blows.
Temperatura zraka kretat će se od osam do petnaest stupnjeva.
The air temperature will range between eight and fifteen degrees.
Tijekom noći očekuje se zahlađenje, a u gorju može pasti i snijeg.
During the night a cold spell is expected, and in the highlands snow may even fall.
Sutradan će biti promjenljivo oblačno uz povremenu kišu.
The next day it will be variably cloudy with occasional rain.
Vozačima se savjetuje oprez zbog poledice na cestama.
Drivers are advised to take care because of black ice on the roads.
Impersonal weather verbs: pada, puše
The heart of any forecast is the impersonal weather verb — a verb that needs no subject at all, because the "doer" is the weather itself. The most important is pada ("it falls"), which Croatian uses for any precipitation: pada kiša ("rain is falling"), pada snijeg ("snow is falling"), or just pada on its own ("it's coming down"). Here kiša and snijeg are the grammatical subjects and the verb agrees with them, but you can also drop the noun and let pada stand alone. The other staple is puše ("blows"), used for wind: puše vjetar ("the wind blows"), puše bura ("the bura blows").
This is genuinely different from English, which forces a dummy "it": it is raining, it is windy. Croatian has no dummy subject — the verb simply stands without one. Pada. is a complete sentence. Smrkava se ("it's getting dark"), grmi ("it's thundering"), sijeva ("there's lightning") all work the same subjectless way.
Vani pada kiša cijeli dan.
It's been raining outside all day. (pada + subject kiša; or just 'pada' alone)
Puše jaka bura, pa su trajekti otkazani.
A strong bura is blowing, so the ferries are cancelled. (puše — impersonal wind verb)
Grmi i sijeva, bit će oluje.
It's thundering and lightning; there will be a storm. (grmi, sijeva — fully subjectless)
Future I: the tense of predictions
A forecast is all about tomorrow, so it lives in the future I (futur prvi), Croatian's ordinary future tense. It is built from the infinitive plus the present-tense clitic forms of htjeti ("to want"): biti + će → bit će ("it will be"). You will see it everywhere in the text: bit će vedro ("it will be clear"), kretat će se ("it will range"), bit će promjenljivo oblačno ("it will be variably cloudy").
Two spelling-and-clitic points matter. First, when the infinitive ending -ti meets će, the i drops in writing: biti + će is written bit će, kretati + će se becomes kretat će se. Second, the clitic će obeys the second-position rule: it normally comes right after the first stressed word, which is why we see Temperatura kretat će se and Sutradan *će biti — the će* slots in early, and the infinitive can land before or after it depending on what comes first.
Sutra će biti sunčano i toplo.
Tomorrow it will be sunny and warm. (future I: bit će → biti + će)
Temperatura će porasti do dvadeset stupnjeva.
The temperature will rise to twenty degrees. (porasti + će)
Navečer će se naoblačiti i zapuhat će jugo.
In the evening it will cloud over and the jugo wind will pick up. (two future-I verbs, clitics in second position)
Regional prepositions: na Jadranu vs u unutrašnjosti
Croatian forecasts always divide the country geographically, and the prepositions split into two camps. Use na + locative for the coast and open regions: na Jadranu ("on the Adriatic"), na obali ("on the coast"), na sjeveru / jugu / istoku / zapadu ("in the north / south / east / west"). Use u + locative for enclosed or inland areas: u unutrašnjosti ("in the interior"), u gorju ("in the highlands"), u Dalmaciji ("in Dalmatia"), u Slavoniji ("in Slavonia").
The u-versus-na split is not random but it is partly idiomatic, and it is one of the trickiest things for learners, because the logic ("enclosed" vs "open surface") only goes so far. You simply have to learn that it is na Jadranu but u Jadranskom moru, na otoku ("on an island") but u gradu ("in a city"). Forecasts are a great place to drill the regional fixed phrases, because the same handful repeats every single day.
Na Jadranu će biti sunčano, a u unutrašnjosti oblačno.
On the Adriatic it will be sunny, and in the interior cloudy. (na for the coast, u for the inland region)
U gorju i na sjeveru očekuje se snijeg.
In the highlands and in the north snow is expected. (u gorju enclosed, na sjeveru open direction)
Na otoku puše, a u zaljevu je more mirno.
On the island it's windy, but in the bay the sea is calm. (na otoku vs u zaljevu)
Temperatures and numbers in the genitive
The temperature line — od osam do petnaest stupnjeva ("between eight and fifteen degrees") — is a genitive showcase. The range frame od … do … ("from … to …") puts both ends in the genitive, and the noun stupanj ("degree") follows the numeral rules: after petnaest (and any number from five up) it is the genitive plural stupnjeva. So the whole phrase stacks genitives: od osam (od + genitive), do petnaest (do + genitive), stupnjeva (genitive plural after the number).
Croatian marks below-zero temperatures by adding ispod nule ("below zero") or with a minus: pet stupnjeva ispod nule ("five degrees below zero", −5°C). And the word for the temperature value itself sits in genitive after the measure phrase: temperatura od desetak stupnjeva ("a temperature of around ten degrees"), where desetak means "about ten."
Temperatura će biti od pet do dvanaest stupnjeva.
The temperature will be between five and twelve degrees. (od … do … both genitive; stupnjeva gen. pl.)
Jutarnja temperatura past će na tri stupnja ispod nule.
The morning temperature will drop to three degrees below zero. (tri stupnja paucal; ispod nule = below zero)
Očekuje se oko dvadeset stupnjeva, mjestimice i više.
Around twenty degrees is expected, locally even higher. (oko + genitive; dvadeset stupnjeva gen. pl.)
The se-passive of the forecast voice
Like news, forecasts hide the forecaster behind the se-passive, which gives them their neutral, official tone. Očekuje *se zahlađenje ("a cold spell *is expected") names no one who expects it; Vozačima *se savjetuje oprez ("drivers *are advised caution") names no one who advises. The verb agrees with the thing expected or advised: očekuje se zahlađenje (singular) but očekuju se oborine ("precipitation is expected", plural). And zadržava se magla ("fog persists") uses se on a verb of staying. This agentless voice bookends the genre — recognize it and you can read any forecast on radio, TV or a weather app.
Tijekom noći očekuje se zahlađenje.
During the night a cold spell is expected. (se-passive, no agent; agrees with singular zahlađenje)
Sutra se očekuju obilne oborine.
Tomorrow heavy precipitation is expected. (plural subject oborine → očekuju se)
Vozačima se savjetuje oprez na cestama.
Drivers are advised caution on the roads. (savjetuje se — impersonal, agentless)
The forecast register
What unifies this text is a single stylistic instinct: remove the human agent and predict tersely. Nobody is named as expecting or advising — the se-passive (očekuje se, savjetuje se) and the subjectless weather verbs (pada, puše) do that work. The whole thing leans on the future I for prediction and on a fixed inventory of regional prepositions and temperature phrases. The result is the neutral, faintly official tone every Croatian recognizes instantly. It is a formal written-to-spoken register — you would not chat to a friend like this — but it is worth mastering both to understand forecasts and as a clean model of impersonal grammar.
Vocabulary gloss
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| vremenska prognoza | weather forecast | headline noun phrase, verbless |
| vedro / sunčano | clear / sunny | impersonal predicatives |
| pada (kiša / snijeg) | it's raining / snowing | subjectless weather verb |
| puše | (the wind) blows | used for wind |
| maestral / bura / jugo / sjeverac | named coastal/regional winds | maestral and sjeverac are masc.; bura is fem.; jugo is neuter |
| magla | fog | zadržava se magla = fog persists |
| mjestimice / povremeno | in places / occasionally | forecast staples |
| na Jadranu | on the Adriatic | na + locative for the coast |
| u unutrašnjosti | in the interior | u + locative for inland |
| stupnjeva | degrees | genitive plural after 5+ |
| zahlađenje | cold spell, cooling | takes očekuje se (sg) |
| poledica | black ice (on roads) | cf. led "ice", inje "hoarfrost" |
| promjenljivo oblačno | variably cloudy | standard forecast phrase |
Common Mistakes
❌ Ono pada kiša.
Incorrect — Croatian weather verbs are subjectless; there is no dummy 'it' (ono). Just Pada kiša or simply Pada.
✅ Pada kiša.
It's raining.
❌ Sutra će je biti sunčano.
Error — future I of biti is bit će, not 'će je biti'; the clitic je does not belong here. Just Sutra će biti sunčano.
✅ Sutra će biti sunčano.
Tomorrow it will be sunny.
❌ u Jadranu
Preposition error — the Adriatic coast takes na, not u: na Jadranu. (You'd say u Jadranskom moru for 'in the Adriatic Sea', but the region/coast is na Jadranu.)
✅ na Jadranu
on the Adriatic
❌ od osam do petnaest stupanj
Number/case error — after a number from five up, 'degrees' is the genitive plural stupnjeva, not the singular stupanj.
✅ od osam do petnaest stupnjeva
between eight and fifteen degrees
❌ Tijekom noći očekuje zahlađenje.
Voice error — without se, očekuje means '(someone) expects' and needs an agent and object; the forecast passive is očekuje se zahlađenje.
✅ Tijekom noći očekuje se zahlađenje.
During the night a cold spell is expected.
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Start learning Croatian→Related Topics
- Impersonal and Subjectless SentencesB1 — Weather, states, necessity, and the experiencer dative.
- Future I (futur prvi)A1 — The main future: clitic ću/ćeš + infinitive.
- u and na: In/On, To/IntoA2 — The two most common Croatian prepositions — u (in/into) and na (on/at/to) — and the double choice they force: which preposition, and which case.
- The se-Passive and Impersonal ConstructionsB1 — Expressing 'one does / it is done' with se — the everyday Croatian passive.
- Weather ExpressionsA2 — Talking about the weather — 'Kakvo je vrijeme?', subjectless 'pada kiša', 'sunce sja', and the dative 'hladno mi je' for personal feeling — with no 'it' in sight.
- Annotated News ArticleB2 — A sentence-by-sentence reading of a short, neutral Croatian news report, showing the grammar of journalistic prose: the historic present that narrates past events as if live, the verbless headline, the se-passive that hides the agent, reported speech with da and the attribution phrase prema riječima, and formal connectives like međutim and naime.