Breakdown of Kad je šal mokar od kiše, više ne miriše lijepo.
Questions & Answers about Kad je šal mokar od kiše, više ne miriše lijepo.
Kad means when here. It introduces a time clause: Kad je šal mokar od kiše… = When the scarf is wet from the rain…
- kad and kada mean the same thing in this context.
- kada is just a slightly more formal or emphatic version.
- In everyday speech, Croatians very often use kad.
You could say Kad je šal mokar… or Kada je šal mokar… with no real difference in meaning.
Je is the present tense of biti (to be). It’s required here:
- je šal mokar = the scarf is wet
- Structure: kad + (subject) + je + adjective
You cannot drop je in this sentence.
❌ Kad šal mokar od kiše… – incorrect
✅ Kad je šal mokar od kiše… – correct
Šal (scarf) is:
- masculine
- singular
- nominative case here (it’s the subject)
Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:
- masculine singular nominative: mokar
- neuter singular nominative: mokro
- feminine singular nominative: mokra
So we say:
- mokar šal – a wet (masculine) scarf
- mokro more – a wet (neuter) sea
- mokra haljina – a wet (feminine) dress
That’s why it’s šal mokar, not šal mokro.
Od kiše literally means from the rain.
- od (from) always takes the genitive case.
- The noun kiša is feminine singular.
- Genitive singular of kiša is kiše.
So:
- kiša (Nominative – “the rain” as subject)
- od kiše (Genitive – “from the rain”)
That’s why the form is kiše, not kiša or kišu here.
Yes, you can say na kiši, but there is a nuance:
- od kiše – emphasizes what made it wet:
- mokar od kiše = wet from the rain (the rain caused it to get wet)
- na kiši – emphasizes being in the rain / in the situation:
- mokar na kiši ≈ wet while (it’s) out in the rain
In your sentence:
- Kad je šal mokar od kiše… – very natural and standard.
- Kad je šal mokar na kiši… – sounds more like “when the scarf is wet while out in the rain”; it’s possible, but od kiše is the default way to express the cause.
Više ne in this sentence means no longer / not anymore:
- više ne miriše lijepo = it no longer smells nice / it doesn’t smell nice anymore
Typical pattern:
- više ne + verb = no longer + verb
- više ne pušim – I no longer smoke.
- više ne radi – It doesn’t work anymore.
Ne više can appear, but usually in different structures or with a different emphasis (often meaning “not more” in a comparative sense), and it’s much less common in this “no longer” sense. So, for “no longer smells nice”, the natural phrase is više ne miriše lijepo, not ne više miriše lijepo.
Miriše is the 3rd person singular of the verb mirisati (to smell, to have a scent), present tense:
- ja mirišem – I smell (have a scent)
- ti mirišeš – you smell
- on/ona/ono miriše – he/she/it smells
In your sentence:
- ne miriše lijepo = it doesn’t smell nice
Mirisati generally means to have a (usually pleasant) smell. For bad smells, Croatians prefer smrdjeti:
- smrdi – it stinks / smells bad
You can also say:
- miriše na lavandu – it smells of lavender.
Lijep is an adjective (nice, beautiful):
- lijep šal – a nice scarf
Lijepo here is an adverb (nicely, in a nice way):
- miriše lijepo – smells nice
In Croatian, adverbs often end in -o and are formed from adjectives:
- lijep → lijepo (nice → nicely)
- brz → brzo (fast → quickly)
- dobar → dobro (good → well)
So lijepo modifies the verb miriše, not the noun šal.
Croatian usually puts a comma between:
- a dependent clause introduced by kad (when)
- and the main clause
Structure:
- Kad je šal mokar od kiše, – dependent (time) clause
- više ne miriše lijepo. – main clause
So, the comma is grammatically standard and expected here.
The present tense here expresses a general truth / regular situation:
- Kad je šal mokar od kiše, više ne miriše lijepo.
= Whenever the scarf is wet from the rain, it doesn’t smell nice.
For general statements like this, Croatian commonly uses the present tense, just like English.
You could say:
- Kad bude šal mokar od kiše, neće lijepo mirisati.
This sounds more like a specific future situation:
When the scarf gets wet from the rain (at some future time), it won’t smell nice.
So:
- Present: general rule, habit, typical outcome.
- bude / neće: specific future event.
Some word order changes are possible, but not all sound equally natural.
Natural / acceptable:
- Kad je šal mokar od kiše, više ne miriše lijepo. – most natural.
- Kad je šal od kiše mokar, više ne miriše lijepo. – OK, but mokar od kiše together sounds smoother.
- Kad je mokar šal od kiše, više ne miriše lijepo. – possible, but feels a bit marked/emphatic (emphasis on mokar šal).
Less natural would be to break mokar od kiše in a strange way, or move od kiše too far from mokar, because mokar od kiše works well as a unit: “wet from the rain”.
You don’t need to repeat šal. Croatian often drops the subject if it’s clear from context:
- Kad je šal mokar od kiše, više ne miriše lijepo.
→ It’s clear that više ne miriše refers to šal.
If you did repeat it:
- Kad je šal mokar od kiše, šal više ne miriše lijepo.
it would still be grammatically correct, but it would sound more heavy or redundant in this simple sentence. In normal speech and writing, the version without repetition is preferred.