Learn Croatian: Prijepodne radim, a popodne spavam. - In the morning I work, and in the afternoon I sleep.

Prijepodne radim, a popodne spavam.

In the morning I work, and in the afternoon I sleep.

Breakdown of Prijepodne radim, a popodne spavam.

afternoon; in the afternoon

prijepodne

morning, a.m.

Questions & Answers about Prijepodne radim, a popodne spavam.

The translation says "and", so why does the Croatian sentence use a instead of i?

In Croatian, a is a contrastive conjunction that sits somewhere between "and" and "but". While i connects similar or parallel things, a is used here because you are contrasting two different times of day (morning vs. afternoon) and two opposite activities (working vs. sleeping).

Why aren't there prepositions before prijepodne and popodne to say "in" the morning or "in" the afternoon?

These words function as time adverbs here, literally meaning "before noon" and "after noon". Because they act as adverbs rather than standard nouns in this context, they do not take a preposition like u (in).

I usually use ujutro for "in the morning". What is the difference between ujutro and prijepodne?

Ujutro specifically refers to the early morning, usually from when you wake up until around 9 or 10 AM. Prijepodne is a broader term that literally means "before noon", covering the entire period right up to 12:00 PM.

How exactly are the words prijepodne and popodne built?