Learn Hardcore Croatian: On kaže da će doći kasnije, i naravno da ga čekamo. - He says that he will come later, and of course we are waiting for him.

On kaže da će doći kasnije
→ He says that he will come later.
Here da introduces a content clause (reported speech): what he is saying.
naravno da ga čekamo
→ literally of course that we are waiting for him, i.e. of course we are waiting for him.
Here da also introduces a clause, but this is a common pattern after naravno:
- Naravno da idem. – Of course (that) I’m going.
- Naravno da ga čekamo. – Of course (that) we’re waiting for him.

In English we can usually drop that, but in Croatian da is normally kept in these patterns.

Why is the future tense expressed as će doći and not just doći?

Croatian forms the simple future tense with the auxiliary htjeti (to want) in a short form (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će) + the infinitive of the main verb:

doći (to come) → on će doći (he will come).

So in da će doći kasnije:

će = 3rd person singular future of htjeti (short form)
doći = infinitive of doći (to come)

You cannot express the future here with plain doći alone; you need će + infinitive for the normal future tense: on će doći, oni će doći, etc.

Could the word order be da će kasnije doći instead of da će doći kasnije?

Yes, both are grammatically correct:

On kaže da će doći kasnije.
On kaže da će kasnije doći.

The usual, neutral order is verb + adverb (doći kasnije), but moving kasnije before the verb is also possible and can slightly emphasize later. The difference is subtle and both are very natural.

Why is the object pronoun ga used, and what exactly does it refer to?

Ga is the unstressed (clitic) form of the masculine singular accusative pronoun on (he → him).

on (he, nominative)
ga (him, accusative, unstressed)
njega (him, accusative, stressed form)

In naravno da ga čekamo:

čekamo koga? – ga (we are waiting for whom? – him)

So ga refers back to on at the beginning of the sentence: Of course we are waiting for him (that guy we just mentioned).

Why is it da ga čekamo and not da čekamo ga?

Because ga is a clitic pronoun, and clitics in Croatian follow strict word-order rules. They tend to appear in the so‑called second position in the clause.

In naravno da ga čekamo:

da – conjunction
ga – clitic pronoun
čekamo – main verb

Putting it as da čekamo ga sounds wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Croatian. The typical pattern is:

da ga čekamo
da ga vidimo
da ga poznaješ

If you use the stressed form njega, then it can go after the verb for emphasis:

Naravno da čekamo njega, a ne nju.
(Of course we are waiting for him, not her.)

What is the difference between ga and njega?

Both mean him, but they differ in stress and emphasis:

ga – unstressed, clitic form; the default in neutral sentences:
- Vidim ga. – I see him.
- Naravno da ga čekamo. – Of course we’re waiting for him.
njega – stressed form; used for emphasis, contrast, or when standing alone:
- Vidim njega, ne tebe. – I see him, not you.
- Na koga čekaš? – Na njega. – Who are you waiting for? – Him.

In your sentence, the neutral choice is ga.

Why is čekamo (present tense) used, not a future form like ćemo ga čekati?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different shades:

Naravno da ga čekamo.
Literally: Of course that we are waiting for him.
This can refer to:
- a decision/attitude in the present: Of course we (will) wait for him (general commitment),
- a situation that is already in progress or arranged.
Naravno da ćemo ga čekati.
Literally: Of course that we will wait for him.
More explicitly future‑oriented; emphasizes the future action itself.

In conversation, Croatians often use the present tense in da‑clauses to express a near or planned future, especially when it’s about intention or arrangement, so da ga čekamo sounds very natural.

Can the first On be dropped? Could we just say Kaže da će doći kasnije?

Yes, you can absolutely drop On:

Kaže da će doći kasnije, i naravno da ga čekamo.

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: the subject pronoun is usually omitted when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Keeping On (On kaže…) usually adds a bit of emphasis or contrast:

On kaže da će doći kasnije, ali ja mu ne vjerujem.
He says he’ll come later, but I don’t believe him.

Without context, both versions are grammatical; which one you use depends on how strongly you want to point to that specific person.

Why is there a comma before i naravno?

The comma separates two clauses:

On kaže da će doći kasnije
i naravno da ga čekamo

So you get:
On kaže da će doći kasnije, i naravno da ga čekamo.

In many styles you will actually see no comma before i when joining two clauses with the same subject, but here the comma is very natural because naravno introduces a kind of comment or reaction. Both can occur in real texts:

On kaže da će doći kasnije i naravno da ga čekamo.
On kaže da će doći kasnije, i naravno da ga čekamo.

Punctuation in such cases is partly a matter of style.

Could you say On kaže: “Doći ću kasnije” instead of using da?

Yes. That would switch from indirect to direct speech:

Indirect speech:
On kaže da će doći kasnije.
→ He says (that) he will come later.
Direct speech:
On kaže: “Doći ću kasnije.”
→ He says: “I will come later.”

Both are correct; the version with da is the standard way to report what someone says without quoting their exact words.