Breakdown of Kada budem vidio punoglavca, slikat ću ga.
on
he
vidjeti
to see
htjeti
to want (intent, will)
kada
when / if (with conditional)
slikati
to photograph, to paint
budem
will be (Future II auxiliary; budeš, bude, budemo, budete, budu)
punoglavac
tadpole
Questions & Answers about Kada budem vidio punoglavca, slikat ću ga.
Why is budem vidio used here instead of the regular future tense (ću vidjeti)?
Budem vidio is the Future II tense (Futur drugi). It is used for an action in the future that happens before or at the exact same time as another future action. After conjunctions like kada (when) or ako (if), you cannot use the regular future tense (ću vidjeti). You must use Future II or the present tense.
Could I just say Kada vidim instead of Kada budem vidio?
Yes, absolutely! In everyday Croatian, using the present tense of a perfective verb (vidim) after kada or ako is much more common and perfectly correct. Kada budem vidio sounds a bit more formal but is grammatically very precise.
Why does punoglavac change to punoglavca here?
Punoglavac (tadpole) is the direct object, so it takes the accusative case. Because a tadpole is a living creature (an animate masculine noun), its accusative form matches its genitive form, getting an -a ending. Also, notice the fleeting a (nepostojano a): the a in the final syllable of the dictionary form drops out when adding the ending, turning -vac into -vca.
Why is it written as slikat ću and not slikati ću?
When a verb in the infinitive ends in -ti and comes immediately before the short future helper word (ću, ćeš, etc.), the final i is dropped in both writing and pronunciation. If the word order changes so the helper isn't right after the verb, the i stays: Ja ću ga slikati.
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