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U ponedjeljak nemam slobodan dan.

U ponedjeljak nemam slobodan dan.
I do not have a free day on Monday.
From Lesson 107:Days of the week·Croatian

Breakdown of U ponedjeljak nemam slobodan dan.

slobodan
free
dan
day
nemati
to not have
u
in, into
ponedjeljak
Monday

Questions & Answers about U ponedjeljak nemam slobodan dan.

Why do we use u for "on Monday", and why hasn't the word ponedjeljak changed its ending?
To say "on a day of the week" in Croatian, you use the preposition u followed by the accusative case. Because ponedjeljak is a masculine inanimate noun (it is a thing, not a living being), its accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic dictionary form.
What case is the phrase slobodan dan?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb nemam (I don't have). Just like ponedjeljak, dan is a masculine inanimate noun. Because of this rule, the noun and its describing adjective (slobodan) don't get special endings and look just like they do in the dictionary.
Why is nemam written as one word?
Usually, you make a verb negative by putting the separate word ne in front of it (for example, ne radim). But the verb imati (to have) is a special exception. The negative particle merges with the verb to create a single word: nemam, nemaš, nema, and so on.
Can I change the word order to Nemam slobodan dan u ponedjeljak?
Yes, you can! Croatian word order is quite flexible. Putting U ponedjeljak at the very beginning of the sentence simply puts a little extra focus on the day, as if to say, "When it comes to Monday, I don't have a free day" (but maybe I do on Tuesday).

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