Planning by the Month
To express that an event happens in a particular month or season, Croatian uses the preposition u followed by the Locative case.
Because Croatian month names are masculine nouns, they take the standard masculine Locative ending -u. Watch out for fleeting vowels when adding this suffix—for example, siječanj (January) drops its final a to become siječnju.
| In January, we will establish the first colony on a distant planet. | U siječnju ćemo osnovati prvu koloniju na udaljenom planetu. |
| In February, the scientists will arrive by spaceship. | U veljači će znanstvenici doputovati svemirskim brodom. |
Centuries and Eras
The same rule applies to broader spans of time, such as centuries. The neuter noun stoljeće (century) also takes the -u ending in the Locative, becoming stoljeću.
When you describe the century with an ordinal number (like "twentieth" or "twenty-second"), that modifier must also agree in the Locative case. For masculine and neuter modifiers, this ending is typically -om or -em. For instance, the adjective drugi (second) becomes drugom.
| In the twenty-second century, the colonization of Mars will be a great venture for humanity. | U dvadeset drugom stoljeću kolonizacija Marsa bit će velik pothvat za čovječanstvo. |
| Did humanity give up on colonization in the twentieth century? | Je li čovječanstvo odustalo od kolonizacije u dvadesetom stoljeću? |
Expanding the Timeline
Whether you are looking back at past achievements or charting a new era of distant space exploration, the u + Locative structure remains consistent across all months and long-term timeframes.
| Before we conquer distant galaxies, a new era will begin in May. | Prije nego što osvojimo udaljene galaksije, u svibnju će početi nova era. |
| In August, they will test the artificial atmosphere, except that gravity is still a problem. | U kolovozu će testirati umjetnu atmosferu, osim što je gravitacija još uvijek problem. |