Questions & Answers about Danas se ne šminkam.
Why does the reflexive pronoun se come before ne šminkam here?
Little grammar words called enclitics, like se, generally must go in the second position of a Croatian sentence. Because Danas takes the first slot, se must immediately follow it. Additionally, the negative particle ne is bound to the verb, so ne šminkam acts as a single unbreakable unit and cannot be split by an enclitic.
Can I start this sentence with the verb instead?
Yes, you can say Ne šminkam se danas. When you start a sentence with a negated verb, the negative particle ne and the verb count together as the first position. The enclitic se then naturally slides into the second position right after them.
What would it mean if I left out the word se?
Why use the imperfective verb šminkati se rather than the perfective našminkati se?
You use the imperfective here to express a general state for the day, essentially meaning you are going makeup-free. If you wanted to use the perfective to talk about completing the action of doing your makeup, you would normally use the future tense, like Danas se neću našminkati (I won't get my makeup done today). Present tense perfective verbs are rarely used as the main verb in a standalone sentence.
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