Breakdown of Nadam se da će policija rijetko davati kaznu na našem križanju kad vozimo pažljivo.
Questions & Answers about Nadam se da će policija rijetko davati kaznu na našem križanju kad vozimo pažljivo.
The verb nadati se (to hope) is reflexive in Croatian and always takes se.
- Nadam se literally = I hope myself → I hope
- Without se, nadati on its own is not used in modern standard Croatian with this meaning.
Also, Croatian usually drops the subject pronoun ja (I), because the verb ending -am already shows it is first person singular. So:
- Ja se nadam – correct, but stresses I
- Nadam se – neutral and most common
In Croatian, verbs like nadati se (to hope), misliti (to think), reći (to say) often introduce a subordinate clause with da, which works like English that:
- Nadam se da će policija… = I hope *that the police will…*
You cannot normally say:
- ✗ *Nadam se policija će… (ungrammatical)
So the pattern is:
- Nadam se da + (full sentence)
Croatian future I is formed with:
- će (future auxiliary, conjugated) + infinitive of the main verb.
In your sentence:
- će – 3rd person singular of htjeti (to want), used here as the future auxiliary
- davati – infinitive of to give (repeatedly)
So policija će davati = the police will give.
The auxiliary će always agrees with the subject (policija → 3rd person singular).
Croatian distinguishes imperfective and perfective verbs:
- davati – imperfective: repeated, ongoing, habitual actions
- dati – perfective: one complete, single action
Here, rijetko davati kaznu means to rarely give fines in general (habitual action), so the imperfective davati is appropriate.
If you said:
- da će policija rijetko dati kaznu
→ sounds more like will rarely (on a particular occasion) give a fine once — much less natural in this general/habitual context.
Kazna is a feminine noun:
- Nominative singular (dictionary form): kazna – a fine, a punishment
- Accusative singular: kaznu
In the sentence, kaznu is the direct object of davati (to give):
- davati (što?) kaznu – to give what? a fine
- Direct objects of transitive verbs are normally in the accusative case.
If you used kazna (nominative), it would not fit the grammar here.
Yes, but it changes the number:
- kaznu – accusative singular → a fine / the fine
- kazne – accusative plural → fines
So:
- rijetko davati kaznu – rarely give a fine (at all)
- rijetko davati kazne – rarely give fines (in general)
Both are grammatically fine; which one you choose depends on whether you think of fines in the singular or plural. In practice, davati kazne (plural) is slightly more common in general statements about police giving fines.
Križanje is a neuter noun meaning intersection / crossing.
- Nominative singular: križanje
- Locative singular: križanju
After na you get:
- na + accusative → direction, movement onto
- na + locative → location, position on/at
Here we talk about location (“at our intersection”), so we use na + locative:
- na našem križanju = at our intersection
Našem is the locative singular of naš (our), agreeing with križanju.
If you said:
- na naše križanje – that would suggest onto our intersection (motion toward), which does not fit the meaning here.
No, u našem križanju is not idiomatic.
For road intersections in standard Croatian, speakers normally say:
- na križanju
- or more commonly: na raskrižju (also intersection)
So:
- na našem križanju – acceptable
- na našem raskrižju – very natural in many regions
The preposition na is the usual one with intersections, squares, etc. (na raskrižju, na trgu, na semaforu, etc.). U is more for inside something (u kući, u gradu, u autu).
Kad vozimo pažljivo uses the present tense, but it has a general/habitual meaning:
- kad vozimo pažljivo = when(ever) we drive carefully
In Croatian, for general time clauses like kad (when), ako (if), čim (as soon as), the present tense is often used even when English uses a future or whenever:
- Kad vozimo pažljivo, ne želimo kazne.
→ When(ever) we drive carefully, we don’t want fines.
Using a future here (kad ćemo voziti) would sound strange and is rarely used in such general “whenever” statements.
Kad here is a conjunction meaning when and introduces a time clause:
- kad vozimo pažljivo – when we drive carefully
Kad and kada are essentially the same word:
- kada – a bit more formal or emphatic
- kad – shorter, very common in everyday speech and writing
You can freely use either here:
- … na našem križanju kad vozimo pažljivo.
- … na našem križanju kada vozimo pažljivo.
Both are correct.
In Croatian, policija is a singular feminine noun:
- policija je došla – the police arrived (literally: police is arrived)
Even though English the police takes a plural verb (the police are), Croatian treats policija as grammatically singular:
- policija će rijetko davati kaznu
→ će is 3rd person singular, agreeing with policija.
If you wanted to emphasize individual officers, you could use policajci (policemen, plural), but then the whole sentence would need to change.
Rijetko is an adverb (rarely, seldom) modifying davati (to give). The default, neutral placement for such adverbs is just before the main verb:
- će policija rijetko davati kaznu – very natural
In Croatian, adverbs and clitics have some flexibility, but not all positions sound equally good. You might also hear:
- policija će rijetko davati kaznu – also fine, slightly different rhythm
- policija će kaznu rijetko davati – possible, but sounds a bit marked/emphatic
What you normally cannot do is split će and its verb with too many things in awkward ways, e.g.:
- ✗ *će rijetko policija davati kaznu – sounds off
So your word order is natural and typical.
Se is a clitic (a short unstressed word) and follows strict second position rules in Croatian:
- It must come second in the clause, after the first stressed word or phrase.
Here the clause starts with the verb Nadam, so se comes right after it:
- Nadam se da će…
You cannot start a clause with se:
- ✗ *Se nadam da će… – ungrammatical
If you add the subject pronoun ja, it becomes:
- Ja se nadam da će…
(First stressed word: Ja, then se.)
So the pattern is: [first stressed element] + se + ….