Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana.

It is hard to make a decision without a plan.

Breakdown of Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana.

• biti: to be
• težak: hard
• bez: without
• plan: plan
• donijeti odluku: to make a decision

Questions & Answers about Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana.

In English we say “It is hard to make a decision…”, but there is no word for “it” in Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana. Why is it just Teško je and not something like To je teško?

Croatian often uses an impersonal construction where English uses a dummy subject “it”.

• Teško je donijeti odluku.
  literally: “Hard is to make a decision.”
  natural English: “It is hard to make a decision.”

There is no need for a separate word for “it” here; the whole infinitive phrase donijeti odluku functions as the “thing that is hard”.

If you say:

• To je teško. – That is hard.

you are pointing to some specific thing (that thing we’re talking about) and saying it is hard, not expressing a general statement like “It is hard to make a decision.”

Why is it teško (neuter) and not težak or teška?

Teško is the neuter singular form of the adjective težak (hard, difficult).

In sentences like this:

• Teško je donijeti odluku.

the adjective describes an action / situation in general (the whole infinitive clause donijeti odluku), not a specific masculine or feminine noun. In Croatian, when you describe something abstract like:

• to do X
• doing X
• the fact that X happens

the adjective usually appears in neuter singular:

• Lako je reći. – It is easy to say.
• Nemoguće je znati. – It is impossible to know.
• Zabavno je učiti jezike. – It is fun to learn languages.

So teško here is neuter because it matches the implicit, abstract “thing” (the whole idea of making a decision), not a concrete noun like odluka (feminine) or plan (masculine).

What exactly does donijeti mean here? I thought it meant “to bring”, so why is it used with odluku to mean “make a decision”?

You’re right that donijeti usually means “to bring” in a physical sense:

• donijeti knjigu – to bring a book
• donijeti torbu – to bring a bag

But with certain nouns, it forms fixed expressions that have more idiomatic meanings. One of the most common is:

• donijeti odluku – literally: to bring a decision
  natural meaning: to make a decision

Other similar patterns:

• donijeti zaključak – to come to a conclusion
• donijeti zakon – to pass a law
• donijeti presudu – to deliver a verdict

So in Teško je donijeti odluku, donijeti is part of the set phrase donijeti odluku, which is best translated as “to make a decision”, not literally “to bring a decision”.

What form is donijeti here? Is it an infinitive, and could I use a different form like da donesem?

Donijeti in this sentence is the infinitive form of the verb.

• donijeti – (to) bring / (to) make (a decision), perfective infinitive

After expressions like:

• teško je – it is hard
• lako je – it is easy
• dobro je – it is good (a good idea)
• važno je – it is important

Croatian normally uses the infinitive:

• Teško je donijeti odluku. – It is hard to make a decision.
• Lako je pogriješiti. – It is easy to make a mistake.
• Važno je učiti. – It is important to study.

You could say something like:

• Teško je da donesem odluku.

but this sounds less natural here and also changes the nuance: it starts to sound like “It is hard that I make a decision” / “It is hard for me to make a decision”, focusing more on you personally. For a general statement, the infinitive is the normal and best choice:

• Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana. ✅

Why is it odluku and not odluka?

Odluka (decision) is a feminine noun. Its forms include:

• nominative (subject): odluka – the decision
• accusative (direct object): odluku – the decision (as object)

In our sentence, odluku is the direct object of the verb donijeti:

• donijeti što? – odluku
  (to bring / make what? – a decision)

Since direct objects normally take the accusative, we get:

• (Nominative) Odluka je važna. – The decision is important.
• (Accusative) Donosiš odluku. – You are making a decision.

So:

• Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana.
  odluku = accusative singular feminine of odluka.

Why do we say bez plana and not bez plan or bez planom?

The key is the preposition bez (without).

In Croatian, bez always takes the genitive case.

The noun plan (plan) is masculine, with:

• nominative: plan
• genitive: plana

So:

• bez + genitive → bez plana – without a plan

Some parallels:

• bez šećera – without sugar (šećer → šećera)
• bez prijatelja – without a friend(s) (prijatelj → prijatelja)
• bez problema – without a problem / problems (problem → problema)

So:

• bez plan ❌ – wrong case, still nominative
• bez planom ❌ – instrumental case, doesn’t go with bez
• bez plana ✅ – genitive, the only correct option after bez

Can I change the word order? For example, can I say Teško je bez plana donijeti odluku or Odluku je teško donijeti bez plana?

Yes, Croatian word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphases:

1. Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana.
   – Neutral, basic order. Focus: making a decision is hard; without a plan is additional information.

2. Teško je bez plana donijeti odluku.
   – Slight emphasis on bez plana. Roughly:
   “It is hard, without a plan, to make a decision.”

3. Bez plana je teško donijeti odluku.
   – Stronger emphasis on the lack of a plan:
   “Without a plan, it’s hard to make a decision.”

4. Odluku je teško donijeti bez plana.
   – Now odluku is highlighted:
   “A decision is hard to make without a plan.”

The only thing you must respect is the placement of the clitic je (see next question). But among these examples, all are fine and natural in standard Croatian.

Why is je in that position? Could it go somewhere else, like at the end?

Je is the 3rd person singular of biti (to be), but it is also a clitic – a short, unstressed word that tends to stand in second position in the clause.

In Croatian, clitics (like je, se, ga, ju, mi, ti, etc.) follow roughly this rule:

• They usually come after the first stressed word or phrase in the sentence.

So:

• Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana.
  First stressed word: Teško → then comes je.

If you move the first stressed element, je moves with it:

• Bez plana je teško donijeti odluku.
  First stressed phrase: Bez plana → then je.

You cannot put je anywhere you like:

• *Teško donijeti odluku bez plana je. ❌ (sounds wrong)
• Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana. ✅

So in normal sentences, je will appear early, not at the end.

Can the verb je be left out in this sentence?

In standard Croatian, you should keep je:

• Teško je donijeti odluku bez plana. ✅

In informal spoken language, people sometimes drop it:

• Teško donijeti odluku bez plana. (colloquial)

This is understood, but in writing, especially in anything formal or for learning purposes, it’s better to include je. It clearly marks the “is” and keeps the sentence standard and complete.

Is there a difference between Teško je donijeti odluku and Teško je donositi odluke?

Yes. These differ in aspect and also in number.

1. Teško je donijeti odluku.

   • donijeti – perfective (single, completed act)
   • odluku – singular
     Meaning: it is hard to make a (single) decision (in a particular case or in general, but focusing on the act itself).

2. Teško je donositi odluke.

   • donositi – imperfective (repeated / ongoing activity)
   • odluke – plural
     Meaning: it is hard to make decisions (as an ongoing responsibility, habit, job, etc.).

So:

• If you mean one decision (this decision, that decision):
  → Teško je donijeti odluku.

• If you mean making decisions in general is a difficult activity:
  → Teško je donositi odluke.

How would I say “It is hard to make it without a plan”, replacing odluku with a pronoun?

You can replace odluku with the feminine pronoun ju (her/it, referring to a feminine noun).

The sentence then becomes:

• Teško ju je donijeti bez plana.
  – It is hard to make it (the decision) without a plan.

Pay attention to:

1. Form:

   • odluka is feminine → object pronoun ju.

2. Placement:

   • ju is a clitic and must join the clitic cluster, which appears after the first stressed element.
   • The clitics line up as: ju je (object pronoun + auxiliary).

So:

• Teško (first stressed word) + ju je (clitics) + donijeti odluku bez plana (rest)
  → Teško ju je donijeti bez plana.

You cannot put ju or je freely at the end; they must come early in the sentence as clitics.

How do you pronounce donijeti, and what is the role of the j?

Donijeti is pronounced approximately:

• [DO-nye-ti]

Syllables: do-nje-ti

Details:

• do – like “doe” in English.
• nje – sounds like “nyeh”; the nj is a single consonant, like ñ in Spanish “señor”.
• ti – like “tee”.

The j in donijeti helps mark the “ye” sound: ije is typically pronounced like a long “ye” sound (dje / nje sequences turn into dye / nye-like sounds). In practice, you just need to remember:

• donijeti → DO-nye-ti

and that nj is a single sound, not n + j separately.