Questions & Answers about Snijeg opet pada.
Croatian normally drops subject pronouns when the subject is clear from the verb ending or from context.
In English you have to say “It is snowing again”. In Croatian you just say Snijeg opet pada (Snow again falls / is falling).
There is a Croatian word for it (for example on, ono), but here it would sound unnatural. The noun snijeg itself is the subject, so you don’t add an extra “it”.
Snijeg is the subject of the sentence.
- Case: nominative singular
- Gender: masculine
- Meaning: snow (as a mass noun)
The structure is basically:
- Snijeg – subject (“snow”)
- opet – adverb (“again”)
- pada – verb (“falls / is falling”)
So the literal structure is “Snow again falls.”
Because snijeg is in the nominative case, used for the subject of the sentence.
- Snijeg opet pada. – nominative = “Snow is falling again.”
- Nema snijega. – genitive = “There is no snow.”
Snijega is the genitive form, which you use after certain verbs, prepositions, or with quantities, but not when the word is acting as the subject.
Pada is the 3rd person singular present tense of padati (“to fall”).
Croatian has only one present form, and it covers both:
- English simple present: “Snow falls (in winter).”
- English present continuous: “Snow is falling (right now).”
In this sentence, from context it’s clearly “is snowing / is falling (now)”, even though grammatically it can also describe a general fact.
The infinitive is padati, and it is imperfective.
The usual aspect pair is:
- padati – imperfective (“to be falling”, process, repeated or ongoing)
- pasti – perfective (“to fall (once, to have fallen)”, completed action)
For snow as ongoing precipitation, Croatian normally uses the imperfective:
- Snijeg opet pada. – It is snowing again (ongoing process).
- Snijeg je pao. – The snow has fallen / It snowed (and is now on the ground).
Because Croatian doesn’t need “to be” to form the present tense of normal verbs.
In English you say “is falling” (auxiliary to be + participle).
In Croatian you just conjugate the main verb:
- pada = “(it) falls / is falling”
- You do not say je pada in this sense; that would be ungrammatical.
Verbs like biti (“to be”) are used for other constructions (e.g. nominal predicates, passive, past tense), but not for the basic present of action verbs like padati.
Croatian has no articles like “a / an / the”.
Definiteness and specificity are understood from context, word order, and sometimes from pronouns or other words, not from separate articles.
So snijeg can correspond to:
- “snow”
- “the snow”
depending on what fits naturally in English. Here, Snijeg opet pada is best translated as “It’s snowing again”, not literally “Snow again falls.”
Opet here is an adverb meaning “again”.
In this sentence:
- Snijeg opet pada. – The snow is falling again.
Common alternatives with a very similar meaning:
- ponovno – “again, once more” (a bit more neutral/formal)
- iznova – “anew, from the beginning” (slightly different nuance)
In other contexts, opet can also have a contrastive meaning similar to “on the other hand” or “but then again”, but in this sentence it’s the straightforward “again”.
Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and moving opet usually changes emphasis, not basic meaning.
Snijeg opet pada.
Neutral: “It’s snowing again.” Focus on the repeated event.Opet snijeg pada.
Often sounds like a complaint or contrast:
“Again it’s snow that’s falling (not rain / not sun / not something else)!”Snijeg pada opet.
Grammatically possible but less usual; in many contexts it will sound slightly marked or poetic. You would more often hear Snijeg opet pada or Opet pada snijeg.
The safest, most neutral version is the original Snijeg opet pada.
They all describe the same situation (it’s snowing again), but the information structure and emphasis shift:
Snijeg opet pada.
Neutral statement. Topic = snijeg (“the snow”), comment = opet pada (“is falling again”).Opet pada snijeg.
Emphasis on opet (“again”). Often sounds like a reaction:
“It’s snowing again (I can’t believe it)!”Pada opet snijeg.
Also possible, a bit more marked; verb-first can sound narrative, descriptive, or slightly poetic.
For a beginner, it’s best to treat Snijeg opet pada as the default word order.
Yes, in the right context it can.
By default, speakers will interpret Snijeg opet pada as “It’s snowing again” (precipitation from the sky).
But if you’re already talking about snow that has piled up on a roof or tree branches, the same sentence can mean:
- “The snow is falling again (off the roof / off the branches).”
Croatian doesn’t force the “weather” meaning; context decides whether snijeg is “falling as precipitation” or “falling down from somewhere.”
Approximate pronunciation:
- s – like s in sit
- n – like n in no
- i – like ee in see (short)
- j – like y in yes
- e – like e in bet
- g – always hard, like g in go
So snijeg = roughly /s-nee-yeg/, but quite compressed. The ij is essentially i + j = “ee” + “y” glide, not like the English “eye”.
A rough English-friendly approximation: “snee-yeg” (said quickly).
The verb padati must agree in person and number with the subject:
Kiša opet pada. – “It’s raining again.”
- kiša (feminine singular) → pada (3rd sg)
Listovi opet padaju. – “The leaves are falling again.”
- listovi (masculine plural) → padaju (3rd pl)
Conjugation (present of padati):
- (ja) padam – I fall / am falling
- (ti) padaš – you fall / are falling
- (on/ona/ono) pada – he/she/it falls / is falling
- (mi) padamo – we fall / are falling
- (vi) padate – you (pl/formal) fall / are falling
- (oni/one/ona) padaju – they fall / are falling
In Snijeg opet pada, snijeg is 3rd person singular, so the verb is pada.