Breakdown of Cijelo popodne ću pripremati večeru.
večera
dinner
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
popodne
afternoon; in the afternoon
cijeli
whole
pripremati
to prepare (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Cijelo popodne ću pripremati večeru.
Why do we use the imperfective verb pripremati here instead of the perfective pripremiti?
The phrase cijelo popodne (all afternoon) tells us this action will take a long time and be ongoing. When we talk about a continuous action in the future, we use the imperfective aspect. If you just wanted to say 'I will prepare dinner' (focusing on the completed result), you would use the perfective verb pripremiti.
Why does the future tense helper word ću come after cijelo popodne?
ću is an enclitic, which is a 'weak' word that naturally jumps to the second position in a sentence. In Croatian, the 'first position' can be a single word, or a whole phrase that belongs together. Here, cijelo popodne acts as one logical block, so ću safely sits right after it.
What case is cijelo popodne in and why?
It is in the accusative case. In Croatian, when you want to express how long an action lasts (like 'all afternoon' or 'all day'), you put the time phrase in the accusative case without any prepositions. Because popodne is a neuter noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary form.
Why does the word for dinner end in -u (večeru)?
Dinner is the direct object of the sentence, meaning it is the thing being prepared. This requires the accusative case. The dictionary form is večera, and for feminine nouns ending in -a, the accusative ending changes to -u.
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