Learn Hardcore Croatian: Kad imam goste, uvijek se pitam vole li više meso ili ribu za večeru. - When I have guests, I always ask myself whether they like meat or fish more for dinner.

Kad is just a shorter, more colloquial form of kada.
In most contexts they are interchangeable:
- Kad imam goste, ...
- Kada imam goste, ...

Both are correct. Kad is a bit more informal / conversational, kada can sound slightly more formal or careful, but you will hear both all the time.

Why is imam (present tense) used, not something like a future tense? The English feels a bit like “When I have guests, I always wonder…” in general.

Croatian uses the present tense for general, habitual actions, just like English does here.

Kad imam goste = When(ever) I have guests (in general, whenever this situation happens)
It does not mean “I am having guests right now” but rather “whenever I happen to have guests”.

Using a future tense (kad budem imao goste) would sound like you’re talking about one particular future occasion or something planned, not the general habit. So imam is the natural choice.

Why is it goste and not gosti in Kad imam goste?

This is about case.

gosti = nominative plural (the subject form: guests)
goste = accusative plural (the object form: guests as something you have, invite, see, etc.)

In the sentence, goste is the direct object of imam:

imam goste = I have guests

Because imam (to have) takes an object in the accusative case, you must use goste, not gosti.

What exactly does imam goste mean? Is it literally “I have guests” or more like “I’m having people over”?

Imam goste literally means I have guests, but in everyday language it’s used exactly like English I’m having guests over / I have people over.

It implies:

People are visiting you (typically in your home).
You are their host in some context (dinner, party, staying over, etc.).

So Kad imam goste naturally means When I have people over / When I’m hosting guests.

What does se do in uvijek se pitam? Why not just uvijek pitam?

se is a reflexive pronoun/clitic. With the verb pitati, it changes the meaning:

pitati (nekoga) = to ask (someone)
- Uvijek pitam goste = I always ask the guests.
pitati se = to wonder / to ask oneself
- Uvijek se pitam = I always wonder / I always ask myself.

So without se, you’d be saying I always ask (someone else). With se, you’re wondering in your own mind, which matches the English sentence.

Why is it uvijek se pitam and not uvijek pitam se?

In Croatian, short clitics like se, li, ga, mi, mu have preferred positions in the sentence. The typical pattern is:

They appear after the first stressed word or phrase in the clause.
You generally cannot move them freely the way you can in English.

Here:

uvijek (always) is the first stressed word.
So se naturally comes right after it: uvijek se pitam.

Uvijek pitam se sounds ungrammatical or, at best, very awkward. Correct variants would be:

Uvijek se pitam
Ja se uvijek pitam (adding ja for emphasis)
Uvijek se pitam kad imam goste.

The clitic se almost never goes at the very end of the clause.

What is the structure vole li? Why is the word order reversed, and what does li do?

li is a question particle used in yes/no questions and in indirect questions.

Basic pattern:

Vole li oni meso? = Do they like meat?
(literally “Like-li they meat?”)

In vole li više meso ili ribu, it introduces an indirect question after pitam se:

pitam se vole li više meso ili ribu
= I wonder whether they like meat or fish more.

Key points:

In this construction, li usually comes right after the verb.
The subject (if expressed) follows: vole li oni…

So the inversion vole li is normal whenever li is used.

Could I say da li vole više meso ili ribu instead of vole li više meso ili ribu?

You can hear both forms in real speech, but they are not stylistically equal.

vole li više meso ili ribu – shorter, more standard, preferred in careful writing.
da li vole više meso ili ribu – very common in speech, often felt as more colloquial or regional, and some style guides discourage it in formal writing.

In this sentence:

Kad imam goste, uvijek se pitam vole li više meso ili ribu za večeru.
is the most neutral, standard version.

da li is not “wrong”, but if you want textbook-standard Croatian, verb + li is better.

What does više do in vole li više meso ili ribu? Is it “more meat” or “like more”?

Here više modifies the verb vole, not the nouns.

više = more (to a greater degree)
vole više meso ili ribu = do they like more (which one), meat or fish?
→ Do they like meat or fish more?

It is not “more meat or more fish” (a larger quantity of food). It’s about preference, not amount.

If you wanted to talk about quantity, you’d phrase it differently, for example:

Jedete li više mesa ili ribe? = Do you eat more meat or fish? (still preference, but through consumption)
Želiš li više mesa ili više ribe? = Do you want more meat or more fish? (quantity)

Why is it meso but ribu? Why does one change and the other doesn’t?

Again, this is case plus gender.

meso – neuter noun; nominative = accusative singular → meso in both.
riba – feminine noun; nominative riba, accusative ribu.

In the sentence, meso and ribu are direct objects of vole:

vole (što?) meso ili ribu = they like (what?) meat or fish

So both must be in the accusative:

meat → meso (looks the same as nominative)
fish → ribu (changes from -a to -u)

Why is it meso ili ribu and not mesa ili ribe?

meso and ribu here refer to meat and fish as dishes / types of food for dinner, in a general sense:

meso = meat (as a dish)
ribu = fish (as a dish)

mesa and ribe are genitive forms. You’d use genitive for other meanings, for example:

komad mesa / komad ribe = a piece of meat / fish
nema mesa / nema ribe = there is no meat / no fish

But because these are simple objects of the verb vole (they like what?), the normal case is accusative → meso / ribu.

What does za večeru literally mean, and why is za used?

za večeru literally means for dinner.

za
- accusative often means:
  - purpose: za ručak (for lunch), za putovanje (for the trip)
  - intended recipient: poklon za prijatelja (a gift for a friend)

Here:

za večeru = for the purpose of the dinner, as the dinner meal.

So:

vole li više meso ili ribu za večeru
= do they like meat or fish more for dinner (as their dinner dish).

Contrast:

na večeri = at a dinner (event) – more about location/event: at the dinner party.

Can I change the word order in the sentence? For example, start with Uvijek se pitam or move kad imam goste?

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible. All of these are grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:

Kad imam goste, uvijek se pitam vole li više meso ili ribu za večeru.
(Neutral: sets the condition first, then what you wonder.)
Uvijek se pitam, kad imam goste, vole li više meso ili ribu za večeru.
(Emphasizes “I always wonder… when I have guests”.)
Uvijek se pitam vole li više meso ili ribu za večeru kad imam goste.
(Emphasizes the wondering first, then adds when I have guests at the end.)

What you generally cannot change is the relative positions of clitics like se and li:

se must stay in positions like uvijek se pitam, ja se pitam, not uvijek pitam se.
li stays after the verb: vole li, not li vole.

Why are there no pronouns like ja or oni? How do we know who is doing what?

Croatian is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb endings already show person and number.

In the sentence:

imam and pitam are 1st person singular forms → they imply ja (I).
vole is 3rd person plural → it implies oni (they).

So the fully “spelled out” version would be:

Kad ja imam goste, ja se uvijek pitam vole li oni više meso ili ribu za večeru.

This is grammatically fine but sounds heavy and redundant. Native speakers normally just drop ja and oni unless they want to emphasize who specifically.