Questions & Answers about Sutra ću otići u Zagreb.
- sutra = tomorrow
- ću = I will (future auxiliary for 1st person singular)
- otići = to go (away), to leave (perfective verb)
- u = to / into (here: direction towards a place)
- Zagreb = Zagreb (the city; here in the accusative case, same form as nominative)
So the structure is literally: “Tomorrow I‑will go (away) to Zagreb.”
In Croatian, ću is a clitic (a short, unstressed word) and clitics very strongly prefer the second position in the clause.
Natural: Sutra ću otići u Zagreb.
(First stressed word = Sutra, then clitic ću, then the rest)Unnatural / very marked: Sutra otići ću u Zagreb.
This breaks the normal second‑position rule and will sound wrong to native speakers in everyday speech.
So you normally put ću right after the first stressed element of the sentence (often the first word).
The “simple” future is formed with:
- The auxiliary htjeti (“to want”) in a special clitic form
- the infinitive of the main verb
For ići / otići (“to go / to go away”):
- ja ću otići – I will go (away)
- ti ćeš otići – you will go
- on / ona / ono će otići – he / she / it will go
- mi ćemo otići – we will go
- vi ćete otići – you (pl./formal) will go
- oni / one / ona će otići – they will go
In normal sentences, the auxiliary ću, ćeš, će… behaves as a clitic and goes to the second position:
Sutra ću otići u Zagreb.
Both are related to “going”, but:
- ići = to go (imperfective; focuses on the process / repeated action)
- Sutra ću ići u Zagreb. – Tomorrow I’ll be going to Zagreb.
- otići = to go away / leave (perfective; focuses on the single, completed act of departure)
- Sutra ću otići u Zagreb. – Tomorrow I’ll (set off and) go to Zagreb.
In your sentence, otići presents the trip as a single, complete event (you will leave and arrive there), which is very natural in this context.
The preposition u can take:
- Accusative = direction / movement into a place
- Locative = location / being in a place
Zagreb is a masculine noun; in the accusative singular, it looks the same as the nominative: Zagreb.
- Idem u Zagreb. – I’m going to Zagreb. (movement → accusative)
- Živim u Zagrebu. – I live in Zagreb. (location → locative)
Your sentence describes going to a place, so u Zagreb (accusative) is correct, not u Zagrebu.
In Sutra ću otići u Zagreb., Zagreb is in the accusative singular.
For this noun, nominative and accusative have the same form:
- Nominative: Zagreb (subject) – Zagreb je lijep grad.
- Accusative: Zagreb (object of movement with u) – Idem u Zagreb.
Yes, you can say:
- Ja ću sutra otići u Zagreb.
Differences:
- Ja is optional; Croatian normally drops subject pronouns because the verb already shows the person.
- Using ja puts a bit more emphasis on “I” (“I will go to Zagreb tomorrow”, maybe contrasting with someone else).
So:
- Sutra ću otići u Zagreb. – neutral
- Ja ću sutra otići u Zagreb. – “I will go tomorrow”, with slight emphasis on the subject
Croatian word order is more flexible than English, but clitics (like ću) limit this flexibility.
Very natural options:
- Sutra ću otići u Zagreb. – neutral, very common
- U Zagreb ću sutra otići. – focus on “to Zagreb” (contrastive or topical)
- Ja ću sutra otići u Zagreb. – emphasis on “I”
Less natural / off-sounding:
- Otići ću sutra u Zagreb. – clitic ću is not in usual second position; sounds wrong in everyday speech.
So yes, sutra can move, but keep ću in (or very close to) the second position in the clause.
Ću is one word: it’s the clitic form of the verb “htjeti” (to want) used as a future tense auxiliary.
In a way, it plays a similar role to English “will” or “’ll”, but:
- It’s not a contraction of two words.
- It has full verb forms in other tenses: hoću, hoćeš, hoće… (I want, you want, he wants…).
- In the future tense it appears only as the short clitic: ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će.
So ću is more like an unstressed “will” than like “I’ll” structurally.
No, that would be ungrammatical in standard Croatian.
You must have a finite verb (conjugated for person and number):
- Sutra ću otići u Zagreb. – correct
- Sutra idem u Zagreb. – also correct (present used with future meaning)
- Sutra otići u Zagreb. – wrong (only an infinitive, no finite verb)
Yes. Croatian often uses the present tense for near-future plans, similar to English “I’m going to Zagreb tomorrow” or “I go to Zagreb tomorrow” in a scheduled sense:
- Sutra idem u Zagreb. – Tomorrow I’m going to Zagreb.
- Sutra ću ići / otići u Zagreb. – Tomorrow I will go to Zagreb.
Both are correct. The present (idem) is very common in everyday speech for planned/arranged future events. The future with ću can sound a bit more neutral, explicit, or sometimes more “formal” or “bookish”, depending on context.
Verbs in the present and future tenses in Croatian do not change for gender, only for person and number:
- ja ću otići – I will go (male or female speaker)
- ti ćeš otići – you will go
- on će otići – he will go
- ona će otići – she will go
Gender shows up in past tense participles, not in ću:
- Ja sam otišao u Zagreb. – I went to Zagreb. (male speaker)
- Ja sam otišla u Zagreb. – I went to Zagreb. (female speaker)
So in Sutra ću otići u Zagreb., nothing reveals the gender of the speaker.
Approximate pronunciation with English-like spelling:
- sutra → SOO-trah (stress on su; “r” rolled or tapped)
- ću → chyoo (like “chew” but with a more “t-y” start)
- otići → oh-TEE-chee (stress on ti; final ći like “chee” but softer / t‑y before it)
- u → oo (as in “food”)
- Zagreb → ZAH-greb (stress on Za; “g” always hard as in “go”)
Spoken smoothly:
SOO-trah chyoo oh-TEE-chee oo ZAH-greb.