Questions & Answers about Večeras nemamo struje u kući.
Why is nemamo written as one word and not ne imamo?
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.
What tense is nemamo, and is this talking about now or about the future?
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).