When talking about the past, we often imagine how things might have gone differently. To talk about alternate past outcomes, Croatian uses past unreal conditionals.
The "If" Clause
To establish a condition that did not actually happen in the past, use the conjunction da (if) followed by the past tense (Perfekt). The result of this imagined condition is expressed using the conditional mood.
| If we had excavated that fossil yesterday, we would be happy. | Da smo jučer iskopali taj fosil, bili bismo sretni. |
| If the skull had been in another layer, the paleontologist would have given up. | Da je lubanja bila u drugom sloju, paleontolog bi odustao. |
Flipping the Clause Order
You can also state the imagined result first, followed by the da clause. When the da clause comes second, do not use a comma to separate the two parts.
| Nobody would have found an intact skeleton if we had not had luck. | Nitko ne bi pronašao netaknut kostur da nismo imali sreće. |
Expressing "As If"
To say it looks or feels "as if" something happened, combine kao (as/like) with da to form kao da (as if), followed by the past tense.
| It looks as if we excavated a prehistoric tooth. | Izgleda kao da smo iskopali prapovijesni zub. |
| The paleontologist remembers that fossil as if he found it yesterday. | Paleontolog se sjeća tog fosila kao da ga je jučer našao. |
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