Za vrijeme vožnje smo pričali stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

During the ride we told old jokes and played a simple game.

Breakdown of Za vrijeme vožnje smo pričali stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

• biti: to be
• star: old
• i: and
• igrati: to play
• pričati: to tell
• jedan: one
• šala: joke
• vožnja: ride
• za vrijeme: during
• jednostavan: simple
• igra: game

Questions & Answers about Za vrijeme vožnje smo pričali stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

What does za vrijeme vožnje literally mean, and why this expression instead of just tijekom vožnje?

Literally, za vrijeme vožnje means “for/over the time of the drive/ride”.

• za vrijeme = during / in the course of

  • za = for
  • vrijeme = time
    Put together, it’s a common fixed phrase meaning “during”.

• vožnje is the noun vožnja (a drive / a ride / a trip in a vehicle) in the genitive singular, required by za vrijeme (see next question).

You could absolutely also say tijekom vožnje, which also means “during the drive” and is a bit more compact and slightly more formal. Both are correct and natural.

Why is it vožnje and not vožnja after za vrijeme?

Because za vrijeme requires the genitive case, not the nominative.

• Dictionary form: vožnja (drive / ride) – nominative singular, feminine.
• After za vrijeme, you must use genitive singular:
  • vožnja → vožnje.

So the pattern is:

• za vrijeme + [GENITIVE]
  • za vrijeme filma – during the movie
  • za vrijeme ručka – during lunch
  • za vrijeme vožnje – during the drive / ride

That’s why vožnje is used.

Why is smo in the middle of the sentence (vožnje smo pričali) and not directly next to the verb like in English?

Smo is a clitic (an unstressed auxiliary pronoun) meaning “we (did)”, used to form the past tense.

In Croatian, clitics like smo, sam, si, ste, su, se, mi, ti usually go in “second position” in the clause, not necessarily next to the main verb. Roughly:

• The clitic group comes right after the first stressed word or phrase of the clause.

Here the first phrase is Za vrijeme vožnje, so smo comes right after it:

• Za vrijeme vožnje smo pričali…

Other examples:

• Jučer sam vidio Marka. – Yesterday I saw Mark.
• Na zabavi smo plesali do kasno. – At the party we danced until late.

So this is normal Croatian word order obeying the “second position” rule for clitics.

Can I say pričali smo instead of smo pričali? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say pričali smo, and it is also correct and common:

• Za vrijeme vožnje pričali smo stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

This puts the clitic smo after the verb instead of after the whole phrase za vrijeme vožnje. Both are acceptable. Subtle notes:

• Za vrijeme vožnje smo pričali…
  – clitic in “classical” second position (after the initial phrase).
• Za vrijeme vožnje pričali smo…
  – clitic after the verb; many speakers use this naturally in speech; it can sound a bit more fluid/colloquial.

You will hear both patterns. As a learner, both are fine.

Why is smo only written once, even though there are two verbs (pričali and igrali)?

Because both verbs share the same subject (we) and the same tense (past). In such coordinated structures, Croatian normally uses the auxiliary only once, in front of the first verb:

• (Mi) smo pričali stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

You could repeat it:

• … smo pričali stare šale i smo igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

but this sounds heavy and unnatural in standard Croatian, and is normally avoided unless you need strong emphasis or clarity in a much longer sentence.

So the rule of thumb: if several past-tense verbs share the same subject, put the auxiliary once, before the first -li form.

What tense is smo pričali … i igrali? Is it like the English past simple or present perfect?

Grammatically, this is the perfect tense in Croatian, formed with:

• auxiliary biti (to be) in the present (smo)
• • the -l participle of the main verb (pričali, igrali).

Formally: (mi) smo pričali, (mi) smo igrali.

Functionally:

• It usually corresponds to both English past simple and present perfect, depending on context.
  • We told old jokes and played a simple game. (past simple)
  • We have told old jokes and have played a simple game. (present perfect)

In everyday narrative about a completed event in the past, you can think of it as “the normal past tense” in Croatian.

What is the difference between pričati and govoriti? Why pričali here, not govorili?

Both verbs have to do with speaking, but they’re used differently.

• pričati
  – to tell, to narrate, to chat, to be talking (often more informal or storytelling)

  • pričati priču – to tell a story
  • pričati viceve / šale – to tell jokes
  • pričati s prijateljem – to talk with a friend

• govoriti
  – to speak (a language), to talk (more neutral or formal), to say (in a more general sense)

  • govoriti istinu – to tell the truth
  • govoriti polako – to speak slowly
  • govoriti engleski – to speak English

In your sentence, pričati šale is the natural collocation: “to tell jokes”. Govoriti šale would sound odd or wrong.

Why is it stare šale and not something like staru šalu?

Because we’re talking about more than one joke (plural), and the grammar shows that:

• šala – joke (feminine, singular, nominative)
• šale – jokes (feminine, plural, accusative here)

The adjective has to agree with the noun in gender, number, and case, so:

• stare šale:
  • stare – feminine plural accusative of stara (old).
  • šale – feminine plural accusative (plural direct object).

If it were just one joke in the same sentence:

• pričali smo staru šalu. – We told an old joke.
  
  • staru – feminine singular accusative
  • šalu – feminine singular accusative

Why do we say jednu jednostavnu igru? What do jednu and jednostavnu show?

All three words jednu jednostavnu igru belong together; they must agree in gender, number, and case:

• igra – game (feminine, singular, nominative)
• In the sentence, it is a direct object, so it’s in accusative singular: igru.

Then the adjectives must match igru:

• jedna – one (fem. nom. sg.) → jednu (fem. acc. sg.)
• jednostavna – simple (fem. nom. sg.) → jednostavnu (fem. acc. sg.)

So:

• jednu – one (feminine, accusative, singular)
• jednostavnu – simple (feminine, accusative, singular)
• igru – game (feminine, accusative, singular)

All three agree: feminine, singular, accusative.

Meaning-wise:

• jednu emphasizes “one particular” game.
• jednostavnu tells us the game was simple.

Why is there no separate word for “we” (mi) in the sentence?

Because the person and number are already shown by the verb form and auxiliary:

• smo – first person plural (we)
• pričali / igrali – participle forms that also show plural.

Croatian usually omits subject pronouns (like I, you, we) unless you want to emphasize or clarify:

• (Mi) smo pričali stare šale. – We told old jokes.
• (Oni) su igrali igru. – They played a game.

Here, mi is not needed because smo pričali / igrali unambiguously means we did it.

Why are there no articles like “the” or “a” before šale and igru?

Croatian has no articles (no direct equivalents of a / an / the). Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context, word order, or additional words if really needed.

So:

• pričali stare šale
  can be translated:

  • (we) told old jokes
  • (we) told some old jokes
  • (we) told the old jokes
    depending on context.

• igrali jednu jednostavnu igru
  – clearly means “(we) played one simple game / a simple game”, because jednu literally means “one”.

As a learner, you have to “add” a/an/the when translating into English based on what sounds natural in that context.

Could I say Tijekom vožnje or Dok smo se vozili instead of Za vrijeme vožnje? Do they mean the same?

They’re very close in meaning, but not identical in form.

1. Tijekom vožnje smo pričali stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

   • tijekom = during
   • Very similar to za vrijeme, slightly more formal/compact.
   • Meaning: During the drive, we told old jokes and played a simple game.

2. Dok smo se vozili, pričali smo stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.

   • dok = while
   • smo se vozili = we were driving / riding (literally, “we were being driven / were in transit”).
   • Meaning: While we were driving, we told old jokes and played a simple game.

So yes, all three are natural options for this idea.
Za vrijeme vožnje and tijekom vožnje use a noun (“the drive”), while dok smo se vozili uses a clause (“while we were driving”).

How do you pronounce words like vožnje, pričali, šale and igru, especially ž and š?

Key sounds:

• ž – like the s in “measure” or “vision”:

  • vožnje → VO-zh-nye

• š – like sh in “shoe”:

  • šale → SHA-le

• č – like ch in “chocolate” (not in the target sentence, but in pričali):

  • pričali → PREE-cha-lee

• j – like y in “yes”:

  • vožnje → nje = nye
  • jednu → YED-noo

Full approximations (stressed syllable in CAPS):

• Za vrijeme vožnje smo pričali stare šale i igrali jednu jednostavnu igru.
  
  • Za – za (like “za” in “pizza”)
  • vrijeme – VRI-ye-me (rolled or tapped r)
  • vožnje – VOZH-nye
  • smo – smo (s+m+o together)
  • pričali – PREE-cha-lee
  • stare – STA-re
  • šale – SHA-le
  • i – ee
  • igrali – EE-gra-lee
  • jednu – YED-noo
  • jednostavnu – YED-no-stav-noo (stress usually on jed here)
  • igru – EE-groo

Practising ž (zh) and š (sh) clearly will help your Croatian sound much more natural.