Learn Hardcore Croatian: Kad sam umorna, hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus. - When I am tired, food has neither a good smell nor a good taste.

Both are correct. Kada can sound a bit more formal or careful, and you’re more likely to see it in writing, but in everyday speech kad is extremely common. Grammatically, they are interchangeable here.

Why is it Kad sam umorna and not Kad umorna sam? Where does sam have to go?

In Croatian, the short forms of the verb biti (to be)—sam, si, je, smo, ste, su—are clitics. They strongly prefer the second position in the clause.

In the clause Kad sam umorna:

Kad = first element
sam = clitic goes to second position
umorna = rest of the clause

Kad umorna sam sounds wrong because it breaks that “clitic in second place” rule.

You can move other words around for emphasis, but sam will still try to stay in that second slot:

Ja sam umorna. – I am tired.
Kad sam ja umorna, hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus. – When I am tired, …

In all of these, sam is effectively in the second position of its clause.

Why is it umorna with an -a at the end, and not umoran?

The adjective must agree in gender, number, and case with the person it describes.

umoran – masculine singular
umorna – feminine singular
umorno – neuter singular

In Kad sam umorna…, the speaker is grammatically feminine singular (a woman speaking about herself), so the adjective is umorna.

If a man were speaking, he would say:

Kad sam umoran, hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus.

Some other examples:

On je umoran. – He is tired.
Ona je umorna. – She is tired.
Dijete je umorno. – The child is tired.

Why is there a comma after Kad sam umorna?

In Croatian, a comma is normally used between a subordinate clause and the main clause.

Here:

Subordinate (dependent) clause: Kad sam umorna – When I am tired
Main clause: hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus – the food doesn’t have a good smell or a good taste

So you write:

Kad sam umorna, hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus.

If you put the main clause first and the kad-clause second, you don’t use a comma:

Hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus kad sam umorna.

Why is hrana singular when English “food” is uncountable?

Croatian hrana is a regular singular noun, feminine:

hrana – food (in general)

Even though English treats food as an uncountable mass noun, Croatian just uses a normal singular noun here. You say:

Hrana je skupa. – Food is expensive.
Hrana je dobra. – The food is good.

There is a plural hrane, but it’s used in more specific or technical contexts (types of food, etc.), not for everyday “food” in general. So in this sentence, hrana is simply singular, feminine.

Why is it dobar miris and dobar okus, not dobra miris or dobra okus?

Adjectives agree with the noun they modify, not with hrana.

miris (smell) – masculine noun
okus (taste) – masculine noun

Therefore:

dobar miris – good smell (masculine singular)
dobar okus – good taste (masculine singular)

If you wanted an adjective with hrana itself (feminine), then you’d use feminine forms:

dobra hrana – good food
ukusna hrana – tasty food

But in the sentence:

hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus

dobar is describing miris and okus, not hrana.

Why do we say nema and not ne ima? Where is the word “doesn’t” here?

Croatian negates verbs by adding ne in front of them, but with imati (to have), the negative form ne + ima is written as one word: nema.

So:

ima – (it) has
nema – (it) doesn’t have

Compare:

Hrana ima dobar miris. – The food has a good smell.
Hrana nema dobar miris. – The food doesn’t have a good smell.

Other verbs keep ne separate:

ona je – she is → ona nije – she is not
ona miriše – it smells → ona ne miriše – it does not smell

So nema already contains the meaning “does not have” in one word.

What exactly does ni mean in nema dobar miris ni dobar okus? Why not i?

ni means “nor” here, and the structure is like “not A nor B”.

hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus
→ the food doesn’t have a good smell or (nor) a good taste

Logically, this is “neither … nor …”:

nema dobar miris ni dobar okus
≈ it has neither a good smell nor a good taste

You can also say more explicitly:

Hrana nema ni dobar miris ni dobar okus.

If you used i (“and”), it would sound like a positive statement:

Hrana ima dobar miris i dobar okus. – The food has a good smell and a good taste.

With nema … i …, you risk ambiguity; ni makes the “neither … nor …” meaning clear.

Could I say this using verbs like “smell” and “taste”, not nouns like miris and okus?

Yes. The original uses nouns:

nema dobar miris – (lit.) doesn’t have a good smell
nema dobar okus – doesn’t have a good taste

You can also use the verbs mirisati / mirisati se (to smell) and imati okus / imati smak (to taste). For example:

Kad sam umorna, hrana ne miriše dobro i nema dobar okus.
– When I am tired, the food doesn’t smell good and doesn’t have a good taste.

Or more parallel:

Kad sam umorna, hrana ne miriše dobro niti ima dobar okus.

But the version with miris and okus is very natural and idiomatic in Croatian.

Shouldn’t the object after a negated verb be in the genitive, like dobrog mirisa instead of dobar miris?

Traditional grammar allows a “genitive of negation”, so after a negated verb you may see a genitive instead of an accusative object:

Hrana nema dobrog mirisa ni dobrog okusa.

Here:

dobar miris (nom./acc. masc. sg.) → dobrog mirisa (gen. masc. sg.)
dobar okus (nom./acc. masc. sg.) → dobrog okusa (gen. masc. sg.)

Both are grammatically possible:

Hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus. – neutral, modern, very common
Hrana nema dobrog mirisa ni dobrog okusa. – more old-fashioned or stylistically marked

In modern everyday Croatian, using the accusative (dobar miris, dobar okus) after nema is completely standard and often preferred.

Can I switch the order and say the kad-clause at the end?

Yes. Both orders are correct; you just adjust punctuation:

Subordinate clause first (comma required):
- Kad sam umorna, hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus.
Main clause first (no comma):
- Hrana nema dobar miris ni dobar okus kad sam umorna.

The meaning is the same. The choice is mostly about style and emphasis. Putting Kad sam umorna first slightly emphasizes the condition. Putting it last makes it feel more like an afterthought or explanation.