Power Outages and the Electrician
When a fuse (osigurač) trips (iskočiti), you might find yourself in the dark. To say "we don't have electricity," use the verb nemati followed by the genitive case: nemamo struje. You can connect a cause and effect using the conjunction pa (so).
| The fuse tripped, so we don't have electricity. | Osigurač je iskočio pa nemamo struje. |
If you need professional help, you will have to call an electrician (električar). Because električar is an animate masculine noun, it takes the -a ending in the accusative case as a direct object: zvati električara. To explain the reason, use zato što (because).
| We must call the electrician because we don't have electricity. | Moramo zvati električara zato što nemamo struje. |
Sparks and Short Circuits
A common issue is when a socket (utičnica) starts to spark (iskriti).
| We have an electrical problem because the socket is sparking. | Imamo električni problem zato što utičnica iskri. |
To describe something that happens repeatedly under a certain condition, use kad god (whenever).
| Whenever I use the charger, the socket sparks. | Kad god koristim punjač, utičnica iskri. |
If the power goes out suddenly, you might wonder if it is a short circuit (kratak spoj).
| Is there electricity or is that a short circuit? | Ima li struje ili je to kratak spoj? |
Switches and Lightbulbs
The word baš is a versatile emphatic particle. It can mean "really" or "exactly" depending on the context. If a switch (prekidač) is completely broken, baš emphasizes the failure.
| This switch really doesn't work. | Ovaj prekidač baš ne radi. |
If a lightbulb (žarulja) happens to burn out (izgorjeti) at a specific moment, baš acts as "exactly" or "just."
| The lightbulb burned out exactly when I turned on the switch. | Žarulja je izgorjela baš kad sam upalio prekidač. |
Voltage and Safety
High voltage (napon) can cause fuses to trip. Another useful conjunction to express cause and effect is stoga (therefore).
| The voltage is high, therefore the fuse tripped. | Napon je visok, stoga je osigurač iskočio. |
Finally, when dealing with exposed wiring or a loose cable (kabel), safety is paramount. To give a negative command (don't do something), use nemoj followed by the infinitive of the verb. If you ignore this warning, you might get an electric shock (električni udar). To link these ideas, you can use the shorter causal conjunction jer (because).
| Don't touch the cable because you will get an electric shock! | Nemoj dirati kabel jer ćeš dobiti električni udar! |
