Breakdown of Vikendom se odmaram, ali danas sam zauzet na poslu.
Questions & Answers about Vikendom se odmaram, ali danas sam zauzet na poslu.
Vikendom comes from vikend (weekend) + the instrumental singular ending -om.
Literally, it’s “with/at/over the weekend”, but in practice it works adverbially and means:
- “on weekends / at weekends / every weekend” (habitually)
You don’t say vikendi (plural) in this structure. To talk about a specific weekend, you’d use other forms, e.g.:
- ovaj vikend – this weekend
- sljedeći vikend – next weekend
So:
- Vikendom se odmaram. = “On weekends, I rest (as a habit).”
All can be translated with “on/over the weekend,” but there are nuances:
vikendom – “(on) weekends” in general, habitual:
- Vikendom se odmaram. – I rest on weekends. (Every weekend, as a routine.)
za vikend – “on/for the weekend,” usually a concrete upcoming or specific weekend:
- Što radiš za vikend? – What are you doing this weekend?
preko vikenda – “over the weekend,” spanning the period from Friday to Sunday:
- Radim preko vikenda. – I’m working over the weekend. (During that whole period.)
In your sentence, vikendom is correct because it talks about a general habit.
Odmarati se is the reflexive verb meaning “to rest, to relax.”
- odmarati se – to rest, to relax (intransitive, no object)
- odmarati (nekoga/nešto) – to give someone/something a rest (transitive)
So:
- Vikendom se odmaram. – On weekends, I rest / I relax.
- Odmaram noge. – I’m resting my legs. (transitive, no se)
You can hear Vikendom odmaram in casual speech, but by default, when you mean “I rest,” Croatian strongly prefers the reflexive odmaram se. Your sentence uses the standard, natural form.
Both Vikendom se odmaram and Vikendom odmaram se are grammatically possible, but there is a word‑order rule about clitics (little unstressed words like se, sam, mi, ga).
In Croatian, clitics normally go in “second position” in a clause:
- First: the first stressed word (here: Vikendom)
- Immediately after it: clitic(s) (here: se)
- Then: the rest of the sentence
So the “default” neutral order is:
- ✅ Vikendom se odmaram.
You’ll also hear:
- ✅ Odmaram se vikendom. (Here odmaram is first, and se comes right after it.)
Vikendom odmaram se is possible but sounds a bit less neutral and more marked in rhythm/emphasis. The version with Vikendom se odmaram is the most natural.
Croatian uses the present tense for both:
- actions happening right now, and
- habitual or general actions.
So:
- Sada se odmaram. – I’m resting now.
- Vikendom se odmaram. – I (usually) rest on weekends.
English distinguishes more between “I rest” (habit) and “I am resting” (right now). Croatian doesn’t have that split; context words like vikendom, svaki dan, često tell you it’s habitual.
In your sentence, vikendom makes the meaning clearly habitual, even though the verb is just odmaram (present).
Sam is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb biti = “to be”.
- ja sam – I am
- ti si – you are
- on/ona/ono je – he/she/it is
In everyday speech, Croatians usually drop ja, so:
- (Ja) sam zauzet. – I am busy.
So sam corresponds directly to English “am”, not “have”.
Zauzet is an adjective (originally a past passive participle) meaning “busy, occupied.”
- masculine: zauzet
- feminine: zauzeta
- neuter: zauzeto
Example:
- Danas sam zauzet. – Today I’m busy. (said by a man)
- Danas sam zauzeta. – Today I’m busy. (said by a woman)
In your sentence:
- danas sam zauzet = “today I am busy.”
It’s very common to describe being busy, like English “I’m busy” or “I’m tied up.”
Both exist, but they don’t mean the same thing:
zauzet – busy, occupied at the moment:
- Danas sam zauzet. – I’m busy today.
zaposlen – employed (having a job), or sometimes “busy” in a more formal/literary sense:
- Zaposlen sam u jednoj firmi. – I’m employed in a company.
So in your sentence:
- danas sam zauzet na poslu – I’m busy at work today (I have a lot to do now),
not simply “I am employed.”
These three are different:
na poslu – “at work” (location, state)
- sam na poslu – I am at work.
This is what you have in the sentence: danas sam zauzet na poslu = “today I’m busy at work.”
- sam na poslu – I am at work.
na posao – “to work” (direction, motion towards)
- Idem na posao. – I’m going to work.
u poslu – literally “in (the) work,” rarely used, and sounds odd in this context; it would mean “inside the work / in the middle of the work,” used only in special phraseological or very literal senses.
For “at work” as a place/situation, idiomatic Croatian uses na poslu, not u poslu.
In na poslu, the noun posao is in the locative singular after the preposition na (when it means “at/in a place”).
Basic forms of posao (work, job):
- Nominative sg.: posao – the job, work
- Genitive sg.: posla – of the job
- Dative sg.: poslu – to/for the job
- Accusative sg.: posao – (I have) a job
- Locative sg.: poslu – at/in/on the job
- Instrumental sg.: poslom – with/by the job
So:
- na poslu – at work (locative)
- s posla – from work (genitive)
- imam puno posla – I have a lot of work (genitive)
Yes. In standard Croatian, you normally must put a comma before ali when it connects two clauses:
- Vikendom se odmaram, ali danas sam zauzet na poslu.
This is similar to English usage in longer sentences:
- “I usually rest on weekends, but today I’m busy at work.”
They’re close in meaning but not identical in nuance:
Danas sam zauzet na poslu.
– Focuses on the place/situation: “At work today I’m busy.”Danas sam zauzet s poslom.
– Focuses more on the activity itself: “Today I’m busy with work / with my tasks.”
Both are correct. In your original sentence, na poslu nicely contrasts with vikendom se odmaram: usually relaxed (context: free time), but today (at work) I’m busy.