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Learn Hardcore Croatian: General dolazi danas. - The general is coming today.

Hardcore Croatian
/Reviewing an apartment renovation contract
/General dolazi danas.

General dolazi danas.

Word

General dolazi danas.

Meaning

The general is coming today.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Croatian

Lesson

Reviewing an apartment renovation contract

Breakdown of General dolazi danas.

a general (military officer)

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Questions & Answers about General dolazi danas.

Why is there no word for the in this sentence?

Croatian does not use articles, so there is no separate word for the or a/an.

That means general can mean either the general or a general, depending on context. In a simple sentence like this, English often uses the general, but Croatian leaves that unstated.

What case is general in here?

General is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence — the person performing the action.

A useful comparison:

general = subject form
generala = accusative form, often used as a direct object

For example:

General dolazi danas. = The general is coming today.
Vidim generala. = I see the general.

What exactly is dolazi?

Dolazi is the 3rd person singular present tense form of dolaziti.

So it matches general:

ja dolazim = I come / I am coming
ti dolaziš = you come / you are coming
on/ona dolazi = he/she comes / is coming

In this sentence, dolazi can naturally be understood as comes or is coming, depending on the English translation style.

If the sentence refers to today, why is the verb in the present tense instead of the future?

Because Croatian often uses the present tense for something that is planned, expected, or scheduled, especially when a time word like danas (today) makes the timing clear.

So:

General dolazi danas. can mean The general is coming today.

If you want a more explicitly future-style form, you could say:

General će doći danas.

Both are natural, but dolazi danas is very common for a planned arrival.

Why is it dolazi and not doći?

Because doći is the infinitive, meaning to come. An infinitive cannot be the main finite verb by itself in a sentence like this.

You need a conjugated form, and here that is dolazi.

There is also an aspect difference:

dolaziti = imperfective
doći = perfective

Very roughly:

dolazi focuses on the action as ongoing, expected, or in progress
će doći focuses more on the completed arrival as a future event

So:

General dolazi danas. = The general is coming today.
General će doći danas. = The general will come today.

Does dolazi mean comes or is coming?

It can mean either, depending on context.

Croatian present tense often covers both ideas that English splits into:

comes
is coming

In this sentence, because of danas (today), English will often prefer is coming today, but comes today is not impossible in some contexts.

Can the word order be changed?

Yes. Croatian word order is much more flexible than English word order.

The basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis changes:

General dolazi danas. = neutral
Danas dolazi general. = emphasis on today
General danas dolazi. = also possible; today is highlighted a bit more

Croatian uses endings and context more than English does, so word order is often about emphasis rather than basic grammar.

Why is General capitalized?

It is capitalized here simply because it is the first word of the sentence.

If the same word appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be lowercase:

Danas dolazi general.

So the capital letter here does not automatically mean it is a proper name.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A rough English-style guide would be:

General ≈ GEH-neh-rahl
dolazi ≈ DOH-lah-zee
danas ≈ DAH-nahs

A few helpful pronunciation notes:

g is always hard, like in go
z in dolazi sounds like z, not ts
r is usually tapped or rolled more clearly than in English
Croatian vowels are usually clear and steady, not reduced as much as in English

Can Croatian leave out the subject here?

Yes, very often.

Because the verb already shows person and number, Croatian can omit the subject when it is understood from context:

Dolazi danas. = He/She is coming today.

But if you need to specify who is coming, you include the noun:

General dolazi danas.

How would I make this sentence negative?

You add ne before the verb:

General ne dolazi danas. = The general is not coming today.

This is the normal way to negate a present-tense verb in Croatian.

How would I turn this into a question?

A standard yes/no question is:

Dolazi li general danas? = Is the general coming today?

You may also hear a more colloquial pattern with da li:

Da li general dolazi danas?

But Dolazi li general danas? is the classic textbook pattern.

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