Breakdown of Večeras nemamo struje u kući.
Questions & Answers about Večeras nemamo struje u kući.
In Croatian, the negative particle ne usually merges with some very common verbs in the present tense:
- ne + imati → nemati → nemamo (we don’t have)
- ne + biti → nebiti (not used), but in practice:
- ja: nisam (ne + jesam)
- on/ona/ono: nije (ne + je), etc.
- ne + htjeti → neću, nećeš, neće… (I/you/he won’t)
So:
- imamo = we have
- nemamo = we don’t have
Writing ne imamo separately would look wrong to native speakers in this case; nemamo is the correct, standard form.
Nemamo is in the present tense, 1st person plural (we).
However, when you add a time word like večeras (this evening / tonight), Croatian often uses the present tense to talk about a very near or planned future. So:
- Večeras nemamo struje u kući.
Literally: This evening we don’t have electricity in the house.
Natural English: Tonight we won’t have electricity at home.
So grammatically it’s present, but in meaning it refers to a future situation (later today).
Croatian is a pro‑drop language, which means subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.
- nemam = I don’t have
- nemaš = you (sg.) don’t have
- nemamo = we don’t have
Since nemamo clearly means “we don’t have”, adding mi is usually unnecessary:
- Večeras nemamo struje u kući. – natural, normal
- Mi večeras nemamo struje u kući. – also correct, but emphasizes we (for contrast: “we don’t have electricity, but they do”).
Struje here is genitive singular of struja (electricity, current).
The pattern (ne)imati + genitive is common with some mass or abstract nouns, especially in negative sentences:
- imamo struje / nemamo struje – we (do / don’t) have electricity
- imam vremena / nemam vremena – I (have / don’t have) time
- imaju vode / nemaju vode – they (have / don’t have) water
This is called the partitive genitive: it often expresses “some/any” of a substance, and in negative sentences it often replaces the accusative.
In practice, you will hear:
- Imamo struju. – We have electricity (connection/service).
- Nemamo struje. – We don’t have electricity (there is no power).
For this specific sentence, nemamo struje is the natural, idiomatic choice. Saying nemamo struju is understandable but sounds less natural in this context.
Kuća is a feminine noun meaning “house, home”. With the preposition u meaning “in / inside” (location), Croatian uses the locative case:
- nominative (dictionary form): kuća
- locative singular: (u) kući
So:
- u kući = in the house / at home (inside the house)
u kuća is grammatically wrong because kuća must change form to match the case required by the preposition u in this meaning.
All three can translate as “at home”, but they have slightly different nuances:
u kući – literally “in the house”
- Emphasizes being inside the building.
- Works well when talking about physical conditions of the house:
- Večeras nemamo struje u kući. – Tonight we don’t have electricity in the house.
kod kuće – more like “at home (at one’s place)”
- Very common, neutral way to say at home:
- Večeras nemamo struje kod kuće. – Tonight we don’t have electricity at home.
- Focus slightly more on “at our place” than on the building itself.
- Very common, neutral way to say at home:
doma – colloquial, also “at home”
- Often used in speech:
- Večeras doma nemamo struje.
- Often used in speech:
All three would be understood in this sentence; u kući just sounds a bit more physical/literal: inside the house there is no electricity.
Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and you can move elements around to change what you emphasize. All of these are grammatically correct:
- Večeras nemamo struje u kući. – neutral, time first
- Večeras u kući nemamo struje. – a bit more focus on in the house
- Nemamo večeras struje u kući. – slight emphasis on nemamo (we don’t have it tonight)
- Nemamo struje večeras u kući. – understandable, but less natural
The original version (Večeras nemamo struje u kući.) is the most typical and neutral.
Yes, one very common alternative is to remove the explicit subject we and just state that electricity doesn’t exist:
- Večeras nema struje u kući.
Literally: Tonight there is no electricity in the house.
This sounds very natural and is probably even more common in everyday speech. Another natural version:
- Večeras nema struje kod kuće. – Tonight there’s no electricity at home.
All of these convey the same basic idea.
Croatian does not have articles (no equivalents of a/an or the), so it doesn’t mark definiteness or indefiniteness with separate words.
Context plus case usually make the meaning clear:
- nemamo struje can mean:
- we don’t have electricity
- we don’t have any electricity
English adds “any” or “the” to clarify; Croatian just relies on the noun form and context. Here, the natural English translation is “we don’t have (any) electricity”.
Basic pronunciations (stressed syllables in CAPS):
večeras → ve-CHE-ras
- č = like English ch in chocolate, but a bit harder/shorter.
struje → STROO-yeh
- u = like oo in too
- je = like ye in yes (but shorter)
kući → KOO-chee
- ć = somewhat softer than č, often described as a “soft ch”.
- For learners, pronouncing č and ć the same is usually understood; you can refine the difference later.
- ć = somewhat softer than č, often described as a “soft ch”.
So roughly:
- večeras nemamo struje u kući ≈ ve-CHE-ras NE-ma-mo STROO-yeh oo KOO-chee.
večeras is an adverb meaning “this evening / tonight”.
- It refers to the evening of today.
- Used like: Večeras idem u kino. – I’m going to the cinema tonight.
večer is a noun meaning “evening”.
- For example:
- Dobra večer. – Good evening.
- Ove večeri nemamo struje. – This evening we don’t have electricity. (more formal/less common in speech than Večeras nemamo…)
- For example:
In your sentence, večeras is the most natural choice to say “tonight”.