Breakdown of Vrijeme se pogoršalo, pa ipak nismo svratili u centar.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
vrijeme
weather
u
in, into
pa
so, and then
centar
center
ipak
nevertheless
pogoršati se
to worsen
svratiti
to drop by
Questions & Answers about Vrijeme se pogoršalo, pa ipak nismo svratili u centar.
Why do we use ipak here if the weather worsening naturally explains why they did not go?
While the bad weather logically explains their action, ipak (after all) shows that not going was a change of plans. It is a modal particle here that counters the expectation set before the weather changed: they had originally intended to drop by the center.
Does the combination pa ipak always translate to so... after all?
Not always! Very often, pa ipak translates to 'and yet' or 'nevertheless' when introducing a direct contrast to the first clause. However, in this specific sentence, pa simply means 'so' to give the result of the weather, while ipak operates on its own to show that this result broke their original plan.
Why do we use the accusative u centar instead of the locative u centru?
Even though svratiti (to drop by) implies a short stay, Croatian treats it as a verb of motion because you are directing yourself into a place. Therefore, it requires the preposition u followed by the accusative case to show destination.
Why is there a se in Vrijeme se pogoršalo?
The base verb pogoršati is transitive, meaning it is used when making something else worse. Because the weather is not making something else worse but rather getting worse itself, you must use the reflexive form pogoršati se.
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