Breakdown of Novinar svaki dan objavljuje novi članak.
Questions & Answers about Novinar svaki dan objavljuje novi članak.
In Croatian, the simple present tense is used both for:
- actions happening right now
- habitual or repeated actions (like routines)
So objavljuje can mean:
- He is publishing (right now)
- He publishes (regularly / every day)
Because the sentence also has svaki dan (every day), it clearly means a habitual action.
The verb form objavljuje comes from the infinitive objavljivati (to publish, to be publishing), which is imperfective.
There is also a perfective partner: objaviti (to publish – as a single, completed act).
- objavljivati – to publish regularly / to be in the process of publishing
- objaviti – to publish once; to complete the act of publishing
In this sentence, a repeated action is described, so the imperfective objavljuje (from objavljivati) is used.
Present tense of objavljivati:
- ja objavljujem – I publish / I am publishing
- ti objavljuješ – you publish (sg.)
- on / ona / ono objavljuje – he / she / it publishes
- mi objavljujemo – we publish
- vi objavljujete – you publish (pl. or formal)
- oni / one / ona objavljuju – they publish
Croatian has no articles (no equivalent of English a / an / the).
- novinar can mean a journalist or the journalist
- novi članak can mean a new article or the new article
Context decides whether the meaning is more like a or the. If you want to be more specific, you can add a demonstrative:
- taj novinar – that / the journalist
- ovaj članak – this / the article
- Subject: Novinar – the journalist
- Verb: objavljuje – publishes
- Direct object: novi članak – a new article
- Adverbial of time: svaki dan – every day
So structurally it is: [Subject] [Time] [Verb] [Object].
Novinar – nominative singular, masculine
- It is the subject of the sentence.
svaki dan – accusative singular (both words masculine)
- Time expressions often use the accusative to mean every / each [time unit], functioning adverbially.
novi članak – accusative singular, masculine inanimate
- It is the direct object of the verb: the thing that is being published.
Both are correct:
- svaki dan – accusative
- svakog dana – genitive
Meaning in this context is essentially the same: every day.
Very roughly:
- svaki dan – a bit more neutral / direct
- svakog dana – slightly more formal or stylistic in some contexts
You will hear both very often. For a learner, you can treat them as interchangeable in most sentences.
novi članak
- novi – adjective, masculine singular, nominative/accusative
- članak – noun, masculine singular, accusative (inanimate)
- This is the normal form before a noun: a new article.
nov članak
- Grammatically possible, but less common in modern everyday speech; novi članak sounds more natural.
novog članka
- novog – genitive/accusative (animate) masculine singular
- članka – genitive singular
- This combination would usually be genitive, not object accusative, so it does not fit here.
- Example where it would be valid: bez novog članka – without a new article.
In Croatian, adjectives agree with the noun in:
- gender
- number
- case
Here:
- članak – masculine, singular, accusative (inanimate)
- novi – masculine, singular, accusative (inanimate form looks like nominative)
So novi matches članak in all three features.
If we changed the noun, the adjective would change too:
- nova knjiga (fem. sg. nom./acc.) – a new book
- novo računalo (neut. sg. nom./acc.) – a new computer
- novi članci (masc. pl. nom.) – new articles
Plural version:
Novinari svaki dan objavljuju nove članke.
Changes:
- Novinar → Novinari (subject, nominative plural)
- objavljuje → objavljuju (3rd person plural)
- novi članak → nove članke
- nove – adjective, accusative plural, masculine inanimate
- članke – noun, accusative plural (from članak)
Word order in Croatian is fairly flexible. All of these can be correct, with small differences in emphasis:
- Novinar svaki dan objavljuje novi članak. – neutral, subject first.
- Svaki dan novinar objavljuje novi članak. – emphasizes every day.
- Novinar objavljuje novi članak svaki dan. – very natural, time at the end.
- Novi članak novinar objavljuje svaki dan. – emphasizes new article.
Unlike English, you can move elements around more freely; the core relationships are shown by case endings, not position.
Croatian uses the same present tense for the English simple present and present continuous, so you keep objavljuje, and add an adverb:
- Novinar sada objavljuje novi članak. – The journalist is publishing a new article now.
- Novinar upravo objavljuje novi članak. – The journalist is publishing a new article right now.
Words like sada and upravo give the strong “right now” meaning.
objavljuje – active voice
- Novinar objavljuje novi članak. – The journalist publishes a new article.
objavljuje se – reflexive/passive-like construction
- Novi članak se objavljuje svaki dan. – A new article is (being) published every day.
Use objavljuje se when you want to focus on the article / action, not on who is doing it.
For a female journalist, use novinarka:
- Novinarka svaki dan objavljuje novi članak. – The (female) journalist publishes a new article every day.
Changes:
- novinar → novinarka (feminine noun)
- The verb objavljuje stays the same; Croatian verbs do not change form for grammatical gender in the present tense.
Approximate pronunciation (stressed syllables in CAPS):
- NO-vi-nar SVA-ki dan ob-JA-vlju-je NO-vi ČLA-nak
Key sounds:
- j – like y in yes (in objavljuje)
- lj – a soft ly sound, similar to the lli in million (in objavljuje)
- č – like ch in church (in članak)
All letters are pronounced; there are no silent letters.