Breakdown of Nemojte miješati tekućinu dok ne dodam kiselinu.
ne
no, not
nemoj
do not (sg., pl. nemojte)
dok
until
dodati
to add
miješati
to stir
tekućina
liquid
kiselina
acid
Questions & Answers about Nemojte miješati tekućinu dok ne dodam kiselinu.
Why is there a ne before dodam if the English translation is "until I add" and not "until I don't add"?
In Croatian, the concept of "until" is expressed with the phrase dok ne. Even though the action in English is positive, Croatian requires this negative particle. You can think of it literally as "while I haven't added."
Why is the present tense verb dodam used here for an action that hasn't happened yet?
After dok ne, Croatian uses the present tense of a perfective verb (a verb representing a completed action) to talk about the future. Because dodati is perfective, dodam implies "I finish adding" or "I will have added."
Why do we use the imperfective verb miješati after nemojte?
Negative commands (telling someone not to do something) almost always use imperfective verbs in Croatian. Since you are asking them to abstain from the action entirely, we use the imperfective miješati (to mix) rather than a perfective counterpart. The structure is nemojte plus the infinitive.
Why do the words for liquid and acid end in -u here?
Both words are direct objects receiving the action of their respective verbs, which puts them in the accusative case. The base words are the feminine nominative nouns tekućina and kiselina, and their -a ending changes to -u in the accusative.
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