Questions & Answers about Imamo deset minuta.
In Croatian, subject pronouns (like ja, ti, mi, vi) are usually dropped because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- imamo is the 1st person plural form: it already means we have.
- So Mi imamo deset minuta is grammatically correct, but Imamo deset minuta is more natural in neutral speech.
- You normally add mi only for emphasis or contrast, for example:
- Mi imamo deset minuta, a oni nemaju. – We have ten minutes, but they don’t.
Imamo is the 1st person plural present tense of imati (to have).
Present tense of imati:
- ja imam – I have
- ti imaš – you have (singular, informal)
- on / ona / ono ima – he / she / it has
- mi imamo – we have
- vi imate – you have (plural or formal)
- oni / one / ona imaju – they have
So in Imamo deset minuta, the ending -mo marks we.
In deset minuta, the word minuta is in the genitive plural.
The noun minuta (a minute) declines like this (main forms):
Singular:
- Nominative: minuta
- Genitive: minute
- Accusative: minutu
Plural:
- Nominative: minute
- Genitive: minuta
- Accusative: minute
After numbers 5 and higher, Croatian normally uses the genitive plural of the noun:
- pet minuta – five minutes
- šest minuta – six minutes
- deset minuta – ten minutes
That’s why it is deset minuta, not deset minute or deset minutu.
With numbers, Croatian follows these patterns:
1 – noun in nominative singular
- jedna minuta – one minute
2, 3, 4 (and numbers ending in 2–4 except 12–14) – noun in genitive singular
(for many feminine nouns this looks the same as nominative plural)- dvije minute – two minutes
- tri minute – three minutes
- četiri minute – four minutes
5 and higher (and numbers ending in 5–9, 0, and 11–14) – noun in genitive plural
- pet minuta – five minutes
- sedam minuta – seven minutes
- deset minuta – ten minutes
- dvadeset minuta – twenty minutes
So deset minuta follows the 5+ rule: genitive plural of minuta.
Yes, both are correct, and they follow the number rules:
Imamo minutu. – We have a minute.
- minutu is the accusative singular (no number, just “a minute”).
Imamo dvije minute. – We have two minutes.
- dvije (two) → use genitive singular form of the noun, which here looks like minute.
Imamo deset minuta. – We have ten minutes.
- deset (ten) → use genitive plural: minuta.
So all three are correct, and the form of minuta changes according to the number.
By itself, Imamo deset minuta is neutral and literally means we have ten minutes.
In real situations, context usually makes it sound like we have ten minutes left, but if you want to be explicit, you typically say:
- Imamo još deset minuta. – We have ten more minutes / We still have ten minutes.
- Imamo samo deset minuta. – We only have ten minutes.
- Ostalo nam je deset minuta. – We have ten minutes left (literally: “Ten minutes remained to us.”)
So Imamo deset minuta can be understood as “left”, but adding još, samo, or using ostalo nam je makes the meaning clearer.
All three use the same core structure but different particles:
Imamo deset minuta.
- Neutral: we have ten minutes (context decides if it’s “total” or “left”).
Imamo još deset minuta.
- još = still / more
- Means “We still have ten minutes” or “We have ten more minutes”.
- Often used when checking how much time remains.
Imamo samo deset minuta.
- samo = only / just
- Emphasizes that ten minutes is not much.
- “We only have ten minutes.”
Besides Imamo još deset minuta, very common options are:
Ostalo nam je deset minuta.
- Literally: “Ten minutes has remained to us.”
- Very natural way to say “We have ten minutes left.”
Preostalo nam je deset minuta.
- Slightly more formal: “Ten minutes remains for us / to us.”
Imamo još deset minuta vremena.
- Literally: “We still have ten minutes of time.”
- Adds vremena (time), sometimes for emphasis.
Yes, Croatian word order is flexible, but the neutral, most common order here is:
- Imamo deset minuta.
Other orders are possible, but they change emphasis:
Mi imamo deset minuta.
- Emphasis on we (as opposed to someone else).
Deset minuta imamo.
- Emphasis on ten minutes, often contrasting with another amount or expectation, for example:
- Deset minuta imamo, ne dvadeset. – We have ten minutes, not twenty.
So Deset minuta imamo is possible, but you typically use it when you want to stress deset minuta.
Approximate pronunciation (in simple English-like terms):
Imamo – EE-mah-moh
- i like ee in see
- all vowels are short and clear; stress normally on the first syllable: Ì-ma-mo
deset – DEH-set
- e like e in pet
minuta – mee-NOO-tah
- i like ee in see
- u like oo in book (but shorter)
Put together: EE-mah-moh DEH-set mee-NOO-tah.
Every letter is pronounced; there are no silent letters.
Imamo is present tense, but, like English have, it can imply a future situation if the context clearly refers to something scheduled or upcoming.
For example:
- Imamo sastanak za deset minuta.
– We have a meeting in ten minutes.
Even though imamo is present tense, the sentence as a whole refers to a time in the near future. This works similarly to English We have a meeting tomorrow.
The sentence itself is neutral in terms of formality. It depends more on:
- who you are talking to, and
- the rest of the context.
You can say Imamo deset minuta in both casual and professional settings.
If you want something slightly more formal or explicit, you might hear:
- Na raspolaganju imamo deset minuta. – We have ten minutes at our disposal.
- Imamo još deset minuta za ovaj sastanak. – We still have ten minutes for this meeting.
But simple Imamo deset minuta is perfectly acceptable almost anywhere.
Negative:
- Nemamo deset minuta. – We don’t have ten minutes.
- Just add ne in front of imamo → ne + imamo = nemamo.
Yes–no question (neutral style):
- Imamo li deset minuta? – Do we have ten minutes?
- You add li after the verb and raise your intonation.
Yes–no question (colloquial, very common):
- Da li imamo deset minuta? – Do we have ten minutes?
- This is widely used in everyday speech, especially in some regions.
All of these keep the same object phrase deset minuta; only the verb form or structure changes.