Learn Hardcore Croatian: Nema dovoljno vremena za ručak.

Here nema is impersonal and means there isn’t / there isn’t any. It’s the opposite of impersonal ima (there is/are). With a person as subject, nema can also mean “doesn’t have,” e.g., Ana nema auto (Ana doesn’t have a car), but in your sentence there’s no subject: it simply states non-existence/insufficiency.

Why is it vremena and not vrijeme?

Because dovoljno (“enough [of]”) is a quantity word that’s followed by the genitive case. The genitive singular of vrijeme is vremena. So you get dovoljno vremena. This also fits the common pattern where with (ne)ima + an indefinite mass noun, Croatian prefers the genitive to express “some amount of.”

Is vremena plural here?

No—here it’s genitive singular. Confusingly, vremena is also the nominative plural (“times”), as in Vremena su se promijenila (Times have changed). In your sentence, the grammar after dovoljno makes it genitive singular: “enough time.”

Could I say Ne postoji dovoljno vremena za ručak instead?

Grammatically yes, but it sounds heavy and formal. The idiomatic way to say “there isn’t enough time” is with nema: Nema dovoljno vremena za ručak.

What case is za ručak? Why doesn’t ručak change?

Za takes the accusative, so it’s za ručak. Ručak is a masculine inanimate noun; for such nouns, the accusative is the same as the nominative (both ručak).

Can I say na ručak instead of za ručak?

Not in this sentence. Vrijeme za… (“time for…”) is a fixed pattern with za. Na ručak means “to/for (the event of) lunch,” e.g., Idemo na ručak (We’re going to lunch) or Pozvan sam na ručak (I’m invited to lunch).

Can I change the word order?

Yes. Common, natural variants include:

Nema dovoljno vremena za ručak. (neutral)
Za ručak nema dovoljno vremena. (fronts the topic “for lunch”)
Dovoljno vremena za ručak nema. (emphasizes the lack at the end)

How do I say this in the affirmative, or with a personal subject?

Impersonal affirmative: Ima dovoljno vremena za ručak.
Personal: Imamo dovoljno vremena za ručak.
Personal negative: Nemamo dovoljno vremena za ručak.

How do I ask “Is there enough time for lunch?”

Neutral/impersonal: Ima li dovoljno vremena za ručak?
About the future: Hoće li biti dovoljno vremena za ručak?

What exactly is dovoljno grammatically? Can it change form?

As a quantifier meaning “enough (of),” dovoljno is indeclinable and is followed by genitive: dovoljno vremena, dovoljno ljudi.
As an adverb: dovoljno brzo (fast enough).
There’s also the adjective dovoljan/dovoljna/dovoljno (“sufficient”), which agrees with the noun: dovoljan broj mjesta (a sufficient number of seats).

What’s the difference between dovoljno and dosta?

Both can mean “enough,” and both take the genitive: nema dovoljno/dosta vremena. Dovoljno is neutral/standard; dosta is very common and a bit more colloquial and can also mean “quite a lot”: Imamo dosta vremena (We have plenty of time).

Why doesn’t Croatian use an article like “the” here?

Croatian has no articles. Nouns appear without “a/the,” and definiteness is inferred from context or structure.

Since vrijeme also means “weather,” could this mean “not enough weather for lunch”?

No. Here vrijeme clearly means “time” because of dovoljno vremena za [nešto] (“enough time for [something]”). The “weather” sense appears in sentences like Vrijeme je loše (The weather is bad).

Any quick pronunciation tips for vrijeme and ručak?

vrijeme: say it roughly as “VRYEH-meh.” The j is like English “y,” and ije sounds like “ye.”
ručak: “ROO-chak.” The letter č is “ch” as in “church.”

Could I omit za ručak?

Yes: Nema dovoljno vremena just means “There isn’t enough time.” It’s perfectly fine if the context already makes “for what” obvious. Add za ručak to be explicit.

Other natural ways to express the same idea?

Nemamo vremena za ručak.
Nema vremena ručati. / Ne stignemo ručati. (there’s no time to have lunch / we won’t manage to have lunch)
Pauza je prekratka za ručak.
Nemamo kad za ručak. (colloquial)

Is nema written together or as ne ima?

Always together: nema. It’s a fused negative form of ima. With other verbs the negative is separate (ne znam, ne želim), but nema is the standard spelling.

Does (ne)ima always force the genitive?

No. With definite, countable objects you’ll see the accusative: Nemam knjigu (I don’t have the book). With indefinite/mass nouns or after quantity words (puno, mnogo, dosta, dovoljno), the genitive is the norm: (Ne)mam vremena, (Ne)mam dovoljno novca.

Anything regional I should know?

In Croatian you’ll see vrijeme; in Serbian it’s vreme. The rest of the sentence is identical: Nema dovoljno vremena za ručak in both. Also, along the coast you may hear marenda for a mid-morning snack, but ručak is the standard word for “lunch.”