To run a busy music recording session smoothly, you need to coordinate everyone's schedules. Instead of reading digital clock numbers verbatim, conversational Croatian frequently uses fractions like half and quarter to tell time.
Half Past (pola)
When it is thirty minutes past the hour, Croatian uses the word pola (half). Crucially, you always refer to the upcoming hour. To say 2:30, you say pola tri (literally "half of three").
To describe time passing, you will often use the word prošlo (passed).
| The band came to the studio after half past two had passed. | Bend je došao u studio nakon što je prošlo pola tri. |
Quarter To (kvarat do)
When talking about 15-minute increments, you will often hear this common conversational noun for "quarter":
| quarter (regional, of an hour) | kvarat |
To say "quarter to" an hour, use the preposition do (to / until). When you want to say that an event happens "at" a specific time, use the preposition u.
| We will record the drum and the bass at quarter to five. | Snimit ćemo bubanj i bas u kvarat do pet. |
You can also use standard numbers instead of the word for quarter. To say "fifteen to", simply use petnaest do.
| They mixed the vocal at fifteen to ten. | Miksali su vokal u petnaest do deset. |
Quarter Past (kvarat prošlo)
To say "quarter past" the hour, you use prošlo (past) between the fraction and the hour. For example, 4:15 is expressed as kvarat prošlo četiri.
| It is quarter past four, and the band is already playing. | Kvarat je prošlo četiri, a bend već svira. |
Now you are ready to book the studio and keep your musicians running on schedule!
| The sound engineer tested the speakers at quarter past twelve. | Ton-majstor je testirao zvučnike kvarat prošlo dvanaest. |