Breakdown of Turist me pita kada će početi gradski obilazak.
me
me (accusative clitic)
pitati
to ask
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
početi
to begin
kada
when / if (with conditional)
turist
tourist
gradski
city (adjective)
obilazak
tour
Questions & Answers about Turist me pita kada će početi gradski obilazak.
Why is će placed right after kada instead of next to the verb početi?
This is the main trick with reported questions! The word kada (when) starts a new subordinate clause. Because će is a clitic (an unstressed word that always seeks the second position), it must jump to the second spot of this new clause, which is right after kada.
How would the tourist's original, direct question look compared to the reported question here?
The direct question is exactly the same: Kada će početi gradski obilazak? (When will the city tour start?). Unlike in English, where the word order changes from 'When will it start?' to '...when it will start', Croatian keeps the exact same clitic rules and word order in both forms.
Why is the subject gradski obilazak (city tour) at the very end of the sentence?
Croatian word order is flexible. While you could technically say ...kada će gradski obilazak početi, putting the subject at the end of a reported question is very common and sounds natural. It allows the main action početi to stay close to its helper word će.
Why does the pronoun me come before the verb pita in the first half of the sentence?
Me is another clitic, meaning it demands the second position in its own clause. Since Turist takes the first position in the main clause, me immediately follows it, naturally landing before the verb pita.
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