Breakdown of Imam pravo, ovaj posao je težak.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
težak
difficult / severe, serious
imati
to have
Questions & Answers about Imam pravo, ovaj posao je težak.
Why does the Croatian sentence use "imam" (I have) when the English translation says "I am"?
In Croatian, to say "I am right", you use the verb imati (to have) followed by the noun pravo (right/justice). So you are literally saying "I have right". To say "I am wrong" or "I am not right", you would use the negative verb form: nemam pravo.
Why is the word "ja" (I) left out before "imam"?
In Croatian, the ending of the verb tells you who is doing the action. The -m at the end of imam already means "I have". You could say ja imam pravo, but the ja is usually left out unless you want to emphasize that you are right, as opposed to someone else.
I thought "težak" meant "heavy". Can it also mean "difficult"?
Yes! While težak literally means "heavy" (like a heavy bag), Croatians frequently use it to describe tasks, jobs, or situations that are difficult or hard to do. So težak posao translates to a difficult or hard job.
Why is it "ovaj posao" instead of "ovo posao"?
The word for "this" has to match the gender of the noun it belongs to. Posao (job) is a masculine noun, so it takes the masculine form ovaj. Ovo is the neuter form, which you would only use with neuter nouns.