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Pojedi preostali kolač, bilo da si gladan bilo da nisi!

Pojedi preostali kolač, bilo da si gladan bilo da nisi!
Eat the remaining cake, whether you are hungry or not!
From Lesson 401:Attributive past participles·Croatian

Breakdown of Pojedi preostali kolač, bilo da si gladan bilo da nisi!

biti
to be (sam, si, je)
gladan
hungry
kolač
cake
pojesti
to eat (perfective)
bilo da
whether
preostao
remaining

Questions & Answers about Pojedi preostali kolač, bilo da si gladan bilo da nisi!

How does the word preostali work in this sentence?
Preostali (remaining) is the active past participle of the perfective verb preostati (to remain, to be left over). While these participles are usually used with the verb biti to form the past tense, here it has become a full adjective. It is placed directly before the noun kolač to describe it, just like any standard adjective.
Why does preostali end in -i?
Since it acts as an adjective here, it must agree with the noun it modifies. Kolač is a masculine inanimate noun in the accusative case (it is the direct object of the verb). The -i ending is the standard accusative ending for inanimate masculine adjectives in the definite form. Active past participles used as adjectives almost always take the definite form.
What is the function of the phrase bilo da... bilo da...?
This is a very common paired conjunction meaning "whether... or...". It is used to present two alternative conditions that do not change the main outcome. As shown here, it's very natural to use a positive verb in the first clause (si gladan) and simply negate the auxiliary verb in the second clause (nisi).
Could I use the imperfective imperative jedi instead of the perfective pojedi here?
No, pojedi is much better here. Pojesti is perfective, meaning "to eat up" or complete the action. Because the sentence refers to a specific, limited object (the remaining cake) and the goal is to finish it, the perfective aspect is needed. Jedi would just mean "eat!" as a continuous or general activity.
Why is gladan used instead of gladni?
Gladan is the indefinite form of the adjective. In Croatian, when an adjective is used as a predicate—meaning it follows a linking verb like "to be" (si) to describe the subject, rather than sitting directly next to a noun—it generally takes the indefinite form.

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