Breakdown of Danas ne pada ni kiša ni snijeg.
danas
today
ne
no, not
snijeg
snow
kiša
rain
padati
to fall
ni
neither, nor
Questions & Answers about Danas ne pada ni kiša ni snijeg.
Why do we use ne pada when ni... ni... already means "neither... nor"?
Croatian requires double negation. Whenever you use the negative conjunction pair ni... ni..., the main verb must also be negative. That is why the sentence uses ne pada instead of just pada.
Since there are two subjects (rain and snow), why is the verb pada singular instead of plural?
When singular subjects are joined by ni... ni..., the verb is usually singular if it comes before the subjects, as it does here. Since kiša and snijeg are both singular nouns, pada stays singular.
Why does the Croatian sentence use the verb padati (to fall) instead of a verb for raining or snowing?
Unlike English, which uses a dummy subject like "it" for weather (as in "it is raining"), Croatian often treats the weather elements themselves as the subjects that fall. You are literally saying "Neither rain nor snow falls today."
Can I put the subjects at the beginning of the sentence?
Yes, you can say Ni kiša ni snijeg danas ne padaju. Notice that when multiple subjects come before the verb, Croatian speakers often switch the verb to the plural form (padaju). The word order in our example is very common for weather descriptions.
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