Breakdown of Ako nema struje, vjerojatno ćemo odustati od projekta.
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
projekt
project
od
from
nema
there is no
struja
electricity
ako
if
vjerojatno
probably
odustati
to give up
Questions & Answers about Ako nema struje, vjerojatno ćemo odustati od projekta.
Why is nema in the present tense if the rest of the sentence happens in the future?
In Croatian, when building a real conditional sentence with ako (if), the condition part often uses the present tense while the result part uses the future tense (ćemo odustati). This works just like English: 'If there is (present) no electricity, we will give up (future).'
Why does the word for electricity change to struje here?
The base word is struja, but it changes to the genitive case (struje) because of the word nema. Whenever you use nema to say that 'there is no' or 'there isn't any' of something, the thing that is missing must always be in the genitive case.
Why is there an od before projekta? Doesn't odustati already mean to give up?
Yes, odustati means to give up, but in Croatian you literally give up 'from' something. This verb always requires the preposition od followed by the genitive case. Therefore, the base word projekt becomes od projekta.
Why is the future tense written as ćemo odustati instead of odustat ćemo?
Both mean 'we will give up', but word order rules change depending on what comes first. The word ćemo is a short-form word (clitic) that naturally wants to sit in the second position of its clause. Because the result clause starts with vjerojatno (probably), ćemo tucks in right behind it, followed by the infinitive verb odustati.
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