Breakdown of Kad smo već u ljetnom kinu, gledamo kratkometražni film.
biti
to be
u
in
gledati
to watch
ljetno kino
the open-air cinema
Questions & Answers about Kad smo već u ljetnom kinu, gledamo kratkometražni film.
Does kad really mean when here? It sounds more like since or now that.
Yes — kad normally means when, but in everyday Croatian it can also introduce a reason or circumstance, especially in combinations like kad već.
So in this sentence, Kad smo već u ljetnom kinu... is understood more like:
- Since we’re already at the summer/open-air cinema...
- Now that we’re already at the summer/open-air cinema...
This is very natural Croatian usage.
What does već mean in this sentence?
On its own, već often means already. Here it keeps that basic idea, but together with kad it creates the very common expression kad već, which means something like:
- since we’re already...
- seeing as we’re already...
- if we’re here anyway...
So već adds the sense that the situation is already true, and the main clause follows from that.
Is kad već basically a fixed expression?