Unreal Conditionals with "kad"
When talking about hypothetical or counterfactual situations—like imagining alternative policies or making promises during an election—we use unreal conditionals. In English, this looks like "If he were the mayor, he would reduce the budget."
In Croatian, both the "if" clause and the "result" clause use the conditional mood. To create the "if" clause, we use the word kad paired with the conditional helper verb (the aorist of biti) and the L-participle.
While kad usually means "when," combining it with the conditional changes its meaning to "if." Because the helper verb for most subjects is bi, you will very often hear the phrase kad bi.
| If he were the mayor, he would reduce the budget. | Kad bi on bio gradonačelnik, smanjio bi proračun. |
| If public transport were better, a lot of citizens would use it. | Kad bi javni prijevoz bio bolji, puno građana bi ga koristilo. |
Clause Order
Just like in English, you can flip the sentence order. The "result" clause can come first, followed by the "if" clause. When you do this, kad simply acts as the bridge in the middle of the sentence.
| She would increase the budget for healthcare if she won the elections. | Ona bi povećala proračun za zdravstvo kad bi pobijedila na izborima. |
| The citizens would vote for him if he increased the public budget. | Građani bi glasali za njega kad bi on povećao javni proračun. |
Matching Subjects and Negation
Remember that the helper verb must match the subject in both halves of the sentence. While on, ona, ono, oni, and ti use bi, you must switch to bih for ja, bismo for mi, and biste for vi.
To make a conditional negative (would not), place the negative particle ne immediately before the helper verb.
| If you were a candidate in the elections, I would vote, and she would not. | Kad bi ti bio kandidat na izborima, ja bih glasao, a ona ne bi. |
This structure gives you exactly what you need to discuss local politics, debate public budgets, or imagine how you would run the city!
| If the elections were today, the young would vote for him, and many citizens would stay home. | Kad bi izbori bili danas, mladi bi glasali za njega, a mnogi građani bi ostali doma. |
