Learn Hardcore Croatian: Imate li karticu ili plaćate gotovinom? - Do you have a card or are you paying in cash?

Verb + li (standard/formal): Imate li karticu?
Intonation only (everyday speech): Imate karticu?
Da li
- verb (widely understood but in Croatia felt colloquial and less formal; more typical in Serbian/Bosnian): Da li imate karticu? Your sentence uses the standard verb + li pattern.

Why does karticu end in -u?

Because it’s the accusative singular of the feminine noun kartica after the verb imati (to have), which takes a direct object:

Nominative: kartica (card)
Accusative: karticu (a/the card, as object)
Instrumental: karticom (by card)

Why is gotovinom in the instrumental case?

With paying, Croatian uses the instrumental to express the means: plaćati/platiti + instrumental = “to pay by/with.”

gotovina (cash) → instrumental: gotovinom
Examples: Plaćam karticom. / Plaćam gotovinom.

The sentence mixes “have a card” with “pay in cash.” Would Plaćate li karticom ili gotovinom? be better?

Both are fine. Your sentence asks either “Do you have a card, or are you paying cash?” which first checks card possession. Plaćate li karticom ili gotovinom? is more symmetrical and very common at checkouts because it directly asks for the payment method.

What’s the difference between plaćate and platite?

plaćati (imperfective): ongoing/habitual action; present tense: plaćate = “you are paying/you pay.”
platiti (perfective): completed action; platite is often an imperative (“please pay”) or used with future meaning in the right contexts (e.g., hoćete li platiti…). For a neutral “How are you paying?” the imperfective plaćate is natural.

Why are the verbs 2nd person plural (imate/plaćate) if I’m talking to one person?

Croatian uses 2nd person plural for polite address to one person (like French “vous”). Informal singular would be imaš/plaćaš; polite/formal is imate/plaćate. The pronoun Vi is usually omitted: Imate li…?

Where exactly does li go in a question?

li is a clitic that normally occupies second position in the clause. In practice with yes/no questions, you put the verb first and li immediately after it:

Imate li karticu?
Plaćate li gotovinom?

Do I need to repeat li before the second verb: Imate li karticu ili plaćate li gotovinom?

No. Repeating li is optional. Both are correct:

Without repetition (very common): Imate li karticu ili plaćate gotovinom?
With repetition (more symmetrical/emphatic): Imate li karticu ili plaćate li gotovinom?

Does kartica specifically mean a credit card?

In checkout context, kartica almost always means a payment card (debit or credit). If you need to be precise:

kreditna kartica (credit card): accusative kreditnu karticu
debitna kartica (debit card): accusative debitnu karticu

What’s the difference between gotovina, novac, and keš?

gotovina = cash (bills/coins). Used with paying: platiti/plaćati gotovinom.
novac = money (general). Less natural in the paying-by phrase.
keš = casual/colloquial “cash” (loanword). Common in speech, often as u kešu: Platiti ću u kešu. In standard style, prefer gotovinom.

Can I just ask Karticom ili gotovinom?

Yes. Elliptical questions like Karticom ili gotovinom? or Kartica ili gotovina? are very common and perfectly natural at a checkout.

Do I need articles like “a/the” in Croatian? Why not “a card”?

Croatian has no articles. Imate li karticu? covers “Do you have a card?” or “Do you have the card?” Context supplies the specificity.

How do I pronounce the tricky letters in plaćate, karticu, gotovinom?

c = “ts” (so karticu sounds like “karti-tsu”).
ć is a softer “ch” than č (in plaćate, think of a soft “ch”: “pla-chah-te”).
gotovinom is straightforward; every written vowel is pronounced.

Is ili (“or”) exclusive or inclusive here?

In this context it’s understood as exclusive: one payment method or the other. Grammatically, ili is simply “or”; context makes it exclusive at the checkout.