Breakdown of Večeras ću potpisati peticiju protiv smeća u rijeci.
Questions & Answers about Večeras ću potpisati peticiju protiv smeća u rijeci.
Croatian (like other South Slavic languages) forms the Future I tense with an auxiliary + infinitive:
- ću – future auxiliary of biti (to be), 1st person singular
- potpisati – infinitive of the verb to sign (perfective)
Pattern:
- Ja ću potpisati – I will sign
- Ti ćeš potpisati – You will sign
- On/ona/ono će potpisati – He/she/it will sign
- etc.
In everyday speech, the pronoun ja is usually dropped because the ending on ću already shows the person:
- Večeras ću potpisati peticiju… = This evening I will sign the petition…
So ću potpisati is the normal future I form; there is no single fused verb like in English I’ll sign.
Croatian has a special rule for short, unstressed words like ću, called clitics. They normally go in second position in the clause.
In the sentence:
- Večeras ću potpisati peticiju…
the first element is Večeras, so the clitic ću has to come right after it.
Večeras potpisati ću… is ungrammatical in standard Croatian.
Some other acceptable word orders:
- Ja ću večeras potpisati peticiju…
- Peticiju ću večeras potpisati. (emphasis on petition)
- Večeras ću ja potpisati peticiju. (emphasis on I, not someone else)
But in all of them, ću stays in that early “clitic slot,” usually after the first stressed word or phrase.
Peticija (petition) is a feminine noun. In this sentence it is the direct object of potpisati (to sign), so it must be in the accusative singular.
Declension of peticija (feminine, -a type):
- Nominative (who? what?): peticija – the petition (subject)
- Genitive (of?): peticije
- Dative (to/for): peticiji
- Accusative (whom/what?): peticiju
- Vocative: peticijo
- Locative (about/in/on): peticiji
- Instrumental (with): peticijom
Because we are saying I will sign *what? → *peticiju, we must use the accusative singular form.
The preposition protiv (against) in Croatian always takes the genitive case.
The noun smeće (trash, garbage) is a neuter, mostly uncountable noun. Its basic forms:
- Nominative singular: smeće (subject)
- Genitive singular: smeća (of trash)
After protiv, we must use genitive, so:
- protiv smeća = against the trash / against garbage
You cannot say protiv smeće; that would be wrong case.
The preposition u (in, into) can take two different cases:
- Locative – for location (where?)
- u rijeci – in the river (somewhere inside the river)
- Accusative – for direction (where to? into what?)
- u rijeku – into the river (movement into the river)
In u rijeci, rijeci is locative singular of rijeka (river). So:
- u rijeci = in the river (location)
- u rijeku = into the river (movement)
The phrase protiv smeća u rijeci literally means against the trash in the river – trash that is already in the river.
As it stands, Večeras ću potpisati peticiju protiv smeća u rijeci. most naturally means:
- I will sign a petition against the trash that is in the river.
If you want to clearly say against throwing trash into the river, you’d usually phrase it more explicitly:
- Večeras ću potpisati peticiju protiv bacanja smeća u rijeku.
- bacanja – of throwing (genitive of bacanje)
- u rijeku – into the river (accusative, direction)
So the original sentence is understandable in context, but by default it sounds like the trash is already in the river.
Rijeka (river) is a regular feminine -a noun. Its singular forms:
- Nominative: rijeka – the river (subject)
- Genitive: rijeke – of the river
- Dative: rijeci – to/for the river
- Accusative: rijeku – the river (object, direction into)
- Vocative: rijeko
- Locative: rijeci – in/on/at the river
- Instrumental: rijekom – with/by the river
After u used for location (where?), you use locative:
- u rijeci – in the river (locative singular)
So u rijeka is not a valid combination; the noun must be in the correct case.
Večeras means this evening / tonight. It’s a time adverb and is quite flexible in word order.
All of these are grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:
- Večeras ću potpisati peticiju protiv smeća u rijeci.
Neutral; focuses first on when. - Peticiju ću večeras potpisati protiv smeća u rijeci.
Emphasis on the petition. - Ja ću večeras potpisati peticiju…
Emphasis on I (as opposed to someone else).
Placing večeras at the beginning is very common and natural in Croatian, especially when time is important information.
Večeras can cover both ideas:
- this evening
- tonight (in the sense of this evening / later today after work, etc.)
It refers to the evening/night of today, and the exact English translation (evening vs tonight) depends on context.
Croatian verbs come in aspect pairs:
- potpisati – perfective, to sign (as a single, completed action)
- potpisivati – imperfective, to be signing / to sign repeatedly / to be in the process of signing
For Future I, if you talk about doing an action once and completely, you normally use the perfective:
- Večeras ću potpisati peticiju.
= I will sign the petition (once, complete action).
Večeras ću potpisivati peticiju would suggest activity over time, like I will be spending the evening signing petitions / I will be signing (maybe many times). In most normal contexts, potpisati is what you want.
You can add ja, but it is not necessary:
- Večeras ću potpisati peticiju… – neutral, very natural.
- Ja ću večeras potpisati peticiju… – puts emphasis on I (not someone else).
Subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, ona…) are usually dropped in Croatian because person and number are already clear from the verb / auxiliary ending. You add ja only for contrast or emphasis.
Basic guide (approximate):
- č – like ch in church (harder, longer)
- Večeras – ve-CHER-as
- ć – softer, more palatal; somewhat like the t
- y in tube (BrE), or a very soft ch
- smeća – SME-tya (approx.)
- y in tube (BrE), or a very soft ch
- c – like ts in cats
- peticiju – pe-TI-tsi-yu
English doesn’t have perfect equivalents, but remembering:
- č ≈ hard ch
- ć ≈ soft, more “palatal” ch
- c ≈ ts
will get you close enough for most learners.