Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.

When snow is falling, the children run as if it were summer.

Breakdown of Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.

• biti: to be
• kad: when
• dijete: child
• trčati: to run
• ljeto: summer
• snijeg: snow
• padati: to fall
• kao da: as if

Questions & Answers about Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.

What is the difference between kad and kada? Can I use them interchangeably?

Kad and kada mean the same thing: when.

• Kad is just a shorter, more colloquial form of kada.
• In most everyday speech and writing, kad is very common.
• Kada can sound a bit more formal or careful, but it is also used in normal conversation.

In your sentence, you could say either:

• Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.
• Kada pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.

Both are correct and mean the same thing.

Why is it pada snijeg and not snijeg pada? Is the word order important?

Both pada snijeg and snijeg pada are grammatically correct; Croatian word order is fairly flexible.

• Snijeg pada – more neutral, straightforward subject–verb order (Snow is falling).

• Pada snijeg – starts with the verb and can sound a bit more descriptive or stylistic, often used with weather:

  • Pada kiša. – It’s raining.
  • Pada snijeg. – It’s snowing.

In your sentence, Kad pada snijeg is very natural, because weather expressions in Croatian often put the verb first. You could say Kad snijeg pada, but it sounds less idiomatic.

What tense and aspect is pada here, and why is the present tense used for something habitual?

Pada is:

• Present tense
• 3rd person singular
• From the imperfective verb padati (to fall).

In Croatian, the present tense of an imperfective verb is often used to talk about:

• General truths
• Habits
• Things that happen repeatedly

So Kad pada snijeg means When it snows / When snow falls (in general), not when it is snowing right now.

This is similar to English:

• When it rains, I stay home. (habit, general)
• It rains every autumn. (general truth)

Croatian uses present tense the same way in such conditional/temporal clauses.

Could I say Kad sniježi instead of Kad pada snijeg?

Yes, you can, but there is a nuance.

• Kad pada snijeg – literally when snow is falling; very common, neutral.
• Kad sniježi – from the verb sniježiti (to snow); also correct, somewhat more “verby”, like English when it’s snowing.

Both are understandable and correct:

• Kad sniježi, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.
• Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.

In everyday speech, pada snijeg is very frequent. Sniježi isn’t wrong, just slightly less common in typical conversation.

What is the infinitive of trče, and how is it conjugated?

Trče comes from the infinitive trčati (to run).

Present tense conjugation:

• ja trčim – I run
• ti trčiš – you (sg) run
• on / ona / ono trči – he / she / it runs
• mi trčimo – we run
• vi trčite – you (pl/polite) run
• oni / one / ona trče – they run

In the sentence:

• djeca trče = children run (3rd person plural).

Note: djeca (children) is grammatically plural, so the verb must be trče, not trči.

Why is it kao da je ljeto (as if it is summer) and not something like a special “subjunctive” form?

Croatian doesn’t have a separate verb form called a subjunctive like some other languages. Instead, it often uses normal indicative forms with certain expressions.

Kao da means as if / as though.

Patterns:

• kao da je ljeto – as if it is summer
• kao da je lud – as if he is crazy
• kao da ništa nije bilo – as if nothing happened

Here je is just:

• Present tense of biti (to be)
• 3rd person singular: je (he/she/it is).

So kao da je ljeto is literally as if it is summer, but idiomatically matches English as if it were summer in many contexts. Croatian doesn’t need a different verb form to show that it’s imaginary or unreal; the phrase kao da already carries that meaning.

Could I say djeca trče kao ljeti instead of djeca trče kao da je ljeto? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can:

• Djeca trče kao ljeti. – Children run like (they do) in summer.
• Djeca trče kao da je ljeto. – Children run as if it is summer.

Difference in nuance:

• kao ljeti: compares their running now to how they usually run in summer; it’s more about similarity of behavior across seasons.
• kao da je ljeto: paints an image that it feels like summer to them, even though it’s snowing; a bit more vivid or expressive.

Both are correct. The original sentence slightly emphasizes the unreal / surprising contrast: snow outside, but they act like it’s summer.

Why is there a comma after snijeg but no comma before kao da je ljeto?

Croatian comma rules here:

1. Comma between a dependent clause and the main clause
   When the dependent clause (introduced by kad / kada) comes first, it’s separated by a comma:

   • Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.
   • Kada dođeš, nazovi me.

2. No comma before kao da when it’s tightly integrated into the sentence
   The kao da clause here is an integral part of the predicate trče kao da je ljeto, so no comma is necessary:

   • Djeca trče kao da je ljeto.
   • On se ponaša kao da je šef.

Sometimes you might see a comma before kao da to add a slight pause or emphasis, but in this kind of short, integrated phrase it’s normally written without a comma.

What gender and case are snijeg and ljeto in this sentence?

• snijeg (snow)

  • Gender: masculine
  • Case: nominative singular (it’s the subject of pada)

• ljeto (summer)

  • Gender: neuter
  • Case: nominative singular (it’s the complement of je in je ljeto)

So grammatically:

• pada – 3rd person singular present (verb)
• snijeg – masculine nominative subject
• je – 3rd person singular present of biti (to be)
• ljeto – neuter nominative subject complement.

Can I change the order to Djeca trče kao da je ljeto kad pada snijeg? Is that natural?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct and understandable:

• Djeca trče kao da je ljeto kad pada snijeg.

However, the original:

• Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto.

sounds a bit more natural because Croatian often likes to start with a time/condition clause (Kad pada snijeg) when you are setting the scene.

Your version puts more focus on djeca trče… and then adds kad pada snijeg as an afterthought. It’s possible, but the original flow is more common in neutral style.

Why kad and not dok? Don’t both mean when/while?

Both kad(a) and dok can be translated as when/while, but they are used differently:

• kad / kada – when (a point in time or a situation; can be repeated/habitual)

  • Kad pada snijeg, djeca trče… – Whenever it snows, children run…

• dok – while / during the time when (emphasizes simultaneity)

  • Dok pada snijeg, djeca su u kući. – While it is snowing, the children are in the house.

In your sentence, the idea is more whenever it snows, this (habitually) happens, so kad is more natural. Dok pada snijeg, djeca trče kao da je ljeto is possible, but it shifts the emphasis more to actions happening at the same time right now than to a general habit.

How is djeca pronounced, especially the dj?

Djeca is pronounced approximately like “dyet-sa”.

Details:

• dj in Croatian usually represents a soft /d/ sound, similar to the d in English “dew” in many accents, or like dy in “dye”.
• dje approximates to dye.
• djeca: DYE-tsa (stress usually on the first syllable: DJE-ca).

So:

• djeca ≈ DYE-tsa
• not like English “d-j” as two separate sounds.

Why is it snijeg and not sneg? I’ve seen sneg somewhere.

This is a Croatian vs Serbian (and some other variants) difference:

• snijeg – standard Croatian form.
• sneg – standard Serbian form (Ekavian pronunciation).

So:

• In Croatian: snijeg pada.
• In Serbian: sneg pada.

Your sentence is in standard Croatian, so snijeg is the correct form here.