Breakdown of Bit ćemo ovdje dok on ne postane direktor.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
on
he
ovdje
here
ne
no, not
direktor
director, manager (of a company)
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
postati
to become
dok
until
Questions & Answers about Bit ćemo ovdje dok on ne postane direktor.
Why is there a "ne" before the verb? Doesn't that mean "until he DOESN'T become director"?
In Croatian, to say "until a completed action happens," you must use dok combined with the negative word ne. It literally translates as "until he doesn't become," but to a Croatian speaker, it simply means "until he becomes." This "double negative" is the standard way to express "until" with perfective (completed) verbs.
The main sentence is in the future tense (Bit ćemo). Why is postane (becomes) in the present tense?
Just like in English ("until he becomes"), Croatian uses the present tense inside the dok (until) clause even when talking about a future event. Because "becoming" is an action that will be finished, Croatian uses the present tense of a perfective (completed action) verb here.
Why is the verb biti (to be) shortened to Bit at the beginning of the sentence?
When forming the future tense, if an infinitive ending in -ti comes right before the future helper verb (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, etc.), it drops the final -i. Therefore, biti ćemo becomes bit ćemo.
Why is direktor in the nominative (dictionary) case instead of the accusative?
The verb postati (to become) works a lot like the verb biti (to be). It does not take a direct object. Instead, it acts as a bridge linking the subject (on) to a new title or state, so the noun that follows it stays in the nominative case.
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