Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku.

Chemistry is an important topic at the meeting today.

Breakdown of Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku.

• biti: to be
• danas: today
• važan: important
• na: at
• sastanak: meeting
• tema: topic
• kemija: chemistry

Questions & Answers about Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku.

Why is kemija at the beginning of the sentence? Could I start with danas or na sastanku instead?

Croatian word order is quite flexible. Here, Kemija is first because the speaker wants to present chemistry as the main topic of the sentence.

You can change the order to change what you emphasize:

• Danas je kemija važna tema na sastanku. – Emphasis on today.
• Na sastanku je danas važna tema kemija. – Strong emphasis that chemistry is the important topic at the meeting.
• Kemija je važna tema na sastanku danas. – Still clear, but sounds a bit less natural than putting danas earlier.

All of these are grammatically correct; the differences are mostly in nuance and emphasis. The original sentence is a neutral way of saying it, with a slight focus on kemija as the topic.

Which word is the subject here: kemija or tema?

In this sentence, kemija is the subject.

• Kemija – subject (what we are talking about)
• je – verb to be
• važna tema na sastanku – predicate (what is being said about kemija)

So the structure is:

Kemija (subject) je (is) danas važna tema na sastanku (predicate).

Both kemija and tema are in the nominative case, which is normal in sentences with biti (to be). But the logical subject is kemija: Chemistry is (an) important topic at the meeting.

Why are kemija and tema both in the nominative case?

With the verb biti (to be), both the subject and the “thing it equals” (the predicate noun) are normally in the nominative case:

• Kemija je važna tema. – Chemistry is an important topic.

This is similar to English: X is Y. In Croatian:

• X (nominative) je Y (nominative).

You do not say:

• ✗ Kemija je važnu temu.
  or
• ✗ Kemiju je važna tema.

Those would be wrong because they put one side into the accusative, which you don’t do with biti in this kind of sentence.

Why is it važna tema and not važan tema or važnu temu?

Two things are happening here: gender/number agreement and case.

1. Gender and number

   • tema is a feminine noun (even though it ends in -a, which is typical for feminine).
   • The adjective važan (important) has to match it, so it becomes važna (feminine singular).
   • važan = masculine singular
   • važna = feminine singular

2. Case

   • In this sentence, tema is part of the predicate with biti, so it’s in the nominative.
   • Feminine nominative singular: važna tema.
   • Feminine accusative singular: važnu temu.

So:

• važna tema – nominative, correct here.
• važnu temu – would be used if tema were a direct object, e.g.
  
  • Razgovaramo o važnoj temi.
  • Imamo važnu temu.

Why is it na sastanku and not na sastanak?

The preposition na can take either locative or accusative, depending on the meaning:

• na
  • accusative – movement onto / to something
    
    • Idem na sastanak. – I’m going to the meeting.
• na
  • locative – location on / at something
    
    • Na sastanku je važna tema. – At the meeting there is an important topic.

In Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku, the meaning is at the meeting (location, not movement), so sastanku is locative singular: na sastanku.

What form is sastanku, and what is the base form of that noun?

The base (dictionary) form is sastanak – masculine singular, nominative.

sastanku is the locative singular of sastanak, used after na when it means at / on:

• Nominative: sastanak – meeting
• Locative: (na) sastanku – at the meeting

Other examples:

• na stolu – on the table (from stol)
• na fakultetu – at the faculty (from fakultet)

Why is the verb je in second position? Can I move it somewhere else?

je is a clitic form of the verb biti (to be). In Croatian, clitics usually go into the second position in the clause, after the first stressed word or phrase.

In Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku:

1. First stressed word: Kemija
2. Clitic: je

If you start the sentence differently, je still tends to go into that second slot:

• Danas je kemija važna tema na sastanku.
• Na sastanku je kemija danas važna tema.

You generally cannot put it at the very end or keep it far from the beginning:

• ✗ Kemija danas važna tema na sastanku je. (sounds wrong)

Could I say Kemija danas je važna tema na sastanku?

That word order is technically possible, but it sounds odd and somewhat marked. Because je is a clitic, speakers naturally want to put it right after the first stressed element.

Much more natural:

• Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku.
• or, if you want to emphasize danas: Danas je kemija važna tema na sastanku.

Kemija danas je… might appear in spoken language with a special pause for emphasis, but as a standard neutral sentence, you should keep je right after the first word or phrase.

Where can danas go in the sentence, and does its position change the meaning?

danas is an adverb (today) and is quite flexible in position. Common possibilities:

• Danas je kemija važna tema na sastanku. – Neutral; slight focus on today.
• Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku. – Neutral; many speakers would pick this word order.
• Kemija je važna tema danas na sastanku. – Understandable, but danas sounds a bit “tacked on”; less natural.

The basic meaning doesn’t change – it’s still about today’s meeting – but the focus can shift slightly depending on where danas appears. Native speakers most often put it near the verb or near the beginning.

There is no word for “a” or “an” before važna tema. How do I know it means “an important topic” and not “the important topic”?

Croatian has no articles like English a/an or the. The phrase važna tema by itself is neutral; context tells you whether to translate it as:

• an important topic, or
• the important topic.

In your sentence, English would naturally say:

• Chemistry is *an important topic at the meeting today.*

But if the context had already introduced a specific topic, you might translate the same Croatian phrase as:

• Chemistry is *the important topic at the meeting today.*

In Croatian, the form važna tema doesn’t change; it’s the context and English translation that decide between a/an and the.

Could I say Kemija je danas važna na sastanku without tema?

Yes, you can, but it changes the nuance:

• Kemija je danas važna tema na sastanku.

  • Chemistry is an important topic at the meeting today.
  • Focus on “important topic”.

• Kemija je danas važna na sastanku.

  • Literally: Chemistry is important at the meeting today.
  • This is more general: chemistry as a subject/issue is important, but you’re not explicitly calling it a topic.

Both are grammatical, but važna tema is more precise about its role in the meeting: it’s a topic on the agenda.

Is there any difference between važna tema and bitna tema in this sentence?

Grammatically, both are the same: adjective + noun in feminine nominative singular.

• važna tema – important topic
• bitna tema – essential / crucial topic

The difference is mainly nuance:

• važna – important, significant.
• bitna – essential, fundamental, more “crucial”.

So you could also say:

• Kemija je danas bitna tema na sastanku.

It’s still grammatically identical; you just sound a bit stronger about how critical the topic is.