Learn Hardcore Croatian: Sljedeći tjedan završavam drugi zadatak. - Next week I am finishing the second task.

Završavam is the 1st person singular present tense of the imperfective verb završavati. In Croatian, the present tense of an imperfective verb is commonly used to talk about planned or scheduled near-future actions when a time expression like sljedeći tjedan is present. It corresponds to English “I’m finishing (next week).”

What’s the difference between završavam and završit ću here?

Završavam (imperfective present) highlights an ongoing action or a plan/schedule: a bit like “I’m finishing.”
Završit ću (Future I with perfective završiti) highlights the single act of completion: “I will finish.” Both are correct; choose based on whether you want to stress the process/plan (imperfective) or the completed event (perfective).

Can I place ću before or after the verb? What about the form završit ću?

The clitic ću likes to be in the second position in the clause:

Sljedeći tjedan ću završiti drugi zadatak.
Završit ću drugi zadatak sljedeći tjedan. Do not write završiti ću. The short form before ću is standard: završit ću.

Why is there no preposition before sljedeći tjedan?

Time expressions often appear without a preposition in Croatian. Sljedeći tjedan functions as an adverbial of time (accusative of time), so no u is needed. You can say u sljedećem tjednu, but that tends to mean “within/during the next week” and is less common in everyday speech.

Is Sljedećeg tjedna also correct?

Yes. Sljedećeg tjedna (genitive of time) is also used with virtually the same meaning. Very broadly:

Sljedeći tjedan (accusative of time) = “next week (at that time).”
Sljedećeg tjedna (genitive of time) = “during next week.” In practice, both are common and interchangeable in many contexts.

What case is drugi zadatak, and why isn’t it drugog zadatka?

It’s a direct object in the accusative. For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative equals the nominative, so you get drugi zadatak. If the object were masculine animate, you would use genitive/accusative -a: e.g., drugog psa (the second dog).

What case is sljedeći tjedan?

Although it looks like nominative, here it functions as an adverbial of time and is analyzed as the accusative of time. With masculine inanimate nouns, nominative and accusative look the same, which is why it’s not visibly marked.

Can I change the word order?

Yes. Croatian word order is flexible, and you can shift elements for emphasis:

Neutral: Završavam drugi zadatak sljedeći tjedan.
Emphasize time: Sljedeći tjedan završavam drugi zadatak.
Emphasize which task: Drugi zadatak završavam sljedeći tjedan. All are grammatical; the first element is typically what you want to highlight.

Are there synonyms for sljedeći?

Yes:

Idući: very common, same meaning as sljedeći.
Naredni: “the following/next” but a bit more formal or administrative. All three can be used with tjedan: sljedeći tjedan, idući tjedan, naredni tjedan.

What about slijedeći vs sljedeći?

In standard Croatian, sljedeći is the preferred form for “next.” Slijedeći is the active participle of slijediti (“following”), more natural in meanings like “following the instructions” (slijedeći upute). Many speakers use slijedeći for “next,” but sljedeći tjedan is the recommended form in Croatian.

Is tjedan the only word for “week”?

In Croatian, tjedan is standard. Sedmica is widely used in Bosnian and Serbian. In Croatian, sedmica usually means “the number seven” or “a seven (on a die or a card),” not “week.”

How do I pronounce sljedeći tjedan?

slj is like “sly” at the start: SLYEH
đe here is actually dje (a plain d + je): DYEH
ći is a soft “ch” sound: -chee
tj in tjedan is like “ty”: TYEH So roughly: SLYEH-deh-chee TYEH-dahn.

How would I say “my second task” here?

Use the reflexive possessive when the subject owns the object: Završavam svoj drugi zadatak.
You can say moj (Završavam moj drugi zadatak), but svoj is strongly preferred when it refers back to the subject of the clause.

Why is there no article like “the” in drugi zadatak?

Croatian has no articles. Words like drugi (second) and demonstratives (taj, ovaj) can express definiteness. Drugi zadatak naturally means “the second task” in context.

Could I use dovršavam instead of završavam?

Yes, but there’s a nuance:

završiti/završavati: to finish/complete in general.
dovršiti/dovršavati: to finish off, to complete the remaining part of something already started. If you want to stress “finishing the remainder,” dovršavam fits; otherwise završavam is the neutral choice.

How do I negate the sentence?

Place ne in front of the verb:
Sljedeći tjedan ne završavam drugi zadatak.
If you add a pronoun, clitics still follow the second-position rule:
Sljedeći tjedan ga ne završavam. or Ne završavam ga sljedeći tjedan.

What’s the plural of zadatak, and how do ordinals behave with it?

Plural nominative: zadaci.
Accusative plural (inanimate): zadatke. Ordinals decline like adjectives and agree with the noun:
drugi zadatak (sg, masc)
druga dva zadatka (with numbers 2–4, genitive singular form of the noun)
drugi zadaci (pl, masc)
druge zadatke (accusative plural, inanimate)

Why isn’t it drugu zadaću?

That would be correct with the feminine noun zadaća (“homework/assignment”):

Završavam drugu zadaću = “I’m finishing the second assignment/homework.”
In the given sentence the noun is masculine zadatak (“task”), so you need drugi zadatak.