When reading or listening to official announcements—like road closures, detours, or construction updates—you will frequently hear the reason for a disruption stated right at the beginning of the sentence.
Starting with the Cause: Budući da
To say "since" or "as" when giving a reason, use the conjunction budući da.
In Croatian grammar, budući da has a very strict rule: it must always start the sentence. You use it to introduce the cause first, place a comma, and then state the result in the main clause. You cannot place budući da in the middle of a sentence.
Let's see this pattern used to announce maintenance (održavanje) and direct drivers to an alternative bypass (obilaznica):
Navigating Construction and Delays
When following traffic updates, you will frequently encounter formal terms for the roadway (kolnik) and construction (izgradnja). Because these announcements need to be clear and official, budući da is the standard way to explain the cause of a detour or a delay (such as waiting on new asphalt, asfalt).
Traffic reports also use specific phrasing to describe how traffic is flowing. The verb odvijati se literally means "to unfold," but in the context of traffic, it means "to move" or "to take place." If traffic is moving slowly (usporeno), it often leads to waiting in a queue or line of cars (kolona).
Once the work is done, the exact same sentence structure is used to announce the good news: