Questions & Answers about Sada je osam i četvrt.
Why do we use i (and) instead of a word for "past"?
In Croatian, telling time with minutes past the hour is often done by simply using i (and) after the hour. So, "a quarter past eight" translates literally to "eight and a quarter" (osam i četvrt).
What exactly does četvrt mean?
Četvrt means "a quarter" or "one fourth". When talking about time, it always refers to a 15-minute chunk of the hour.
Shouldn't there be the word sati (hours) after osam?
You can absolutely say osam sati i četvrt, but in everyday conversation, people usually drop the word sati (hours) when telling time because the context makes it obvious.
Why isn't there a word for "It" at the beginning of the sentence?
English uses "it" as a placeholder or "dummy" subject in sentences about time or weather (like "It is eight o'clock"). Croatian doesn't use these placeholder subjects, so the sentence just uses the verb je (is) alongside the time.