Learn Hardcore Croatian: Danas bacamo loptu u koš. - Today we are throwing the ball into the hoop.

So bacamo clearly means we throw / we are throwing, even without mi.
If you say Mi bacamo loptu u koš, it’s also correct, but it usually adds emphasis on we (as opposed to someone else).

Does “bacamo” mean “we throw”, “we are throwing”, or “we will throw”?

It can correspond to both English “we throw” and “we are throwing”, depending on context.

Danas bacamo loptu u koš.
= Today we are throwing the ball into the basket. (a concrete action happening today)

Croatian has only one present tense form here; it does not distinguish between simple and continuous like English.

With a time word like danas, the present can also refer to a planned near-future:

Danas bacamo loptu u koš.
could also be understood as Today we’re going to throw the ball into the basket (that’s what we’re doing later today).

But it is not a pure future tense; for clear future you would usually use:

Danas ćemo bacati loptu u koš. – We will be throwing the ball into the basket (activity)
Danas ćemo baciti loptu u koš. – We will throw the ball into the basket (single completed action)

What is the infinitive of “bacamo”, and is it perfective or imperfective?

Bacamo is the 1st person plural present tense of bacati, which is imperfective.

bacati – to throw (as an ongoing/repeated activity)
baciti – to throw (as a single, completed act; perfective)

So:

Danas bacamo loptu u koš.
– We’re (busy) throwing the ball into the basket today / We (generally) throw the ball into the basket today.
Danas ćemo baciti loptu u koš.
– Today we will (once, successfully) throw the ball into the basket.

Imperfective (bacati) focuses on the process or habit.
Perfective (baciti) focuses on completing the action.

Why is it “loptu” and not “lopta”?

Croatian marks grammatical case on nouns. Loptu is in the accusative case, used for direct objects (the thing directly affected by the action).

Lopta is a regular feminine noun ending in -a. Its singular forms start like this:

Nominative (subject): lopta – the ball (as subject)
Accusative (direct object): loptu – the ball (as object)

Examples:

Lopta je nova. – The ball is new. (subject → nominative)
Bacamo loptu. – We throw the ball. (object → accusative)

In Danas bacamo loptu u koš, loptu is the thing we’re throwing, so it must be accusative.

Why are there no words for “the” or “a” (articles) in this sentence?

Croatian does not use articles like “a/an” or “the” at all.

The bare nouns:

lopta – can mean a ball or the ball
koš – can mean a basket/hoop or the basket/hoop

The context tells you whether it’s definite or indefinite. In this sentence, natural English translations would be:

Today we throw *the ball into the basket.*
Today we’re throwing *a ball into a basket.*
(both are grammatically possible; context decides)

You don’t change the Croatian form to show this; you only change the English translation.

What case is “koš” in, and why is it “u koš” and not “u košu”?

Koš is a masculine noun. Its relevant singular cases are:

Nominative: koš – basket/hoop (subject form)
Accusative: koš – basket/hoop (direct object / direction)
Locative: košu – in/at the basket/hoop (after certain prepositions)

The preposition u (in, into) uses:

Accusative when there is movement towards somewhere (into):
- Bacamo loptu u koš. – We throw the ball into the basket.
Locative when it’s static location (in):
- Lopta je u košu. – The ball is in the basket.

So here we have motion into the basket → u koš (accusative), not u košu.

What is the difference between “u koš” and “na koš”?

Both u and na can mean something like in/into, on/onto, but they’re used differently:

u koš – literally into the basket, i.e. you imagine the ball going inside.
na koš – literally onto the basket, which in standard usage sounds wrong for “scoring” in basketball.

For basketball shots, Croatian uses:

baciti loptu u koš
ubaciti loptu u koš
zabiti / zakucati loptu u koš

So for “throwing/shooting into the hoop”, use u koš, not na koš.

Can I change the word order, for example “Bacamo danas loptu u koš” or “Danas loptu bacamo u koš”?

Croatian word order is flexible, but there is a neutral order and then emphatic or marked orders.

Your sentence:

Danas bacamo loptu u koš. – neutral, natural:
[time] – [verb] – [object] – [place]

Other versions:

Bacamo danas loptu u koš. – possible, but danas in the middle is lightly emphasized; stylistically a bit marked.
Danas loptu bacamo u koš. – emphasizes loptu (“it’s the ball that we’re throwing into the basket today”), sounds a bit poetic or contrastive.
Loptu danas bacamo u koš. – strong emphasis on Loptu: “It’s the ball that we’re throwing into the basket today (not something else / not some other time).”

All are grammatically possible, but for a beginner the safest, most neutral word order is the original one.

Could I say “Danas mi bacamo loptu u koš” with “mi”? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Danas mi bacamo loptu u koš.

It is grammatically correct, but it adds emphasis on mi (we), as in:

“We are the ones throwing the ball into the basket today (not them).”

In neutral statements where there is no contrast, Croatian usually omits subject pronouns:

Neutral: Danas bacamo loptu u koš.
Emphatic/contrastive: Danas mi bacamo loptu u koš.

For everyday speech and for learners, leave mi out unless you really want to stress we.

How would I say the negative: “Today we are not throwing the ball into the basket”?

You add ne (not) in front of the verb:

Danas ne bacamo loptu u koš.
– Today we are not throwing the ball into the basket.

Pattern:

(time) + ne + [verb] + [object] + [place]

Example:

Danas ne bacamo loptu u koš, samo je dodajemo.
– Today we’re not throwing the ball into the basket, we’re just passing it.

Does “bacamo loptu u koš” imply a single throw or repeated throwing?

By itself, bacamo (from bacati, imperfective) is neutral: it can describe

an action happening right now (possibly more than once),
a repeated / habitual action,
or a general activity.

Examples:

Danas bacamo loptu u koš.
– Today we’re (spending time) throwing the ball into the basket. (could be many throws)
Svaki dan bacamo loptu u koš.
– Every day we throw the ball into the basket. (habit)

If you want to stress a single, completed throw, you would switch to the perfective verb baciti:

Danas ćemo baciti loptu u koš.
– Today we will (at least once, successfully) throw the ball into the basket.

So: imperfective (bacamo) → process/ongoing or habitual;
perfective (bacit ćemo) → single completed event.

How do you pronounce the word “koš”?

Pronunciation (approximate with English sounds):

koš → kosh
- k as in kid
- o like o in more (shorter)
- š like “sh” in shoe

The š is always pronounced like English sh, never like s.

Where is “danas” usually placed in the sentence? Can it go at the end?

Danas (today) is most commonly placed at the beginning in neutral sentences:

Danas bacamo loptu u koš.

It can also appear later, but then it often sounds more emphatic or stylistically marked:

Bacamo danas loptu u koš. – slightly emphasizing danas.
Bacamo loptu u koš danas. – possible, but usually you’d only do this with some specific rhythm or emphasis in mind; it’s less neutral.

For normal, neutral statements, the most natural position is:

Danas
- verb + rest of the sentence.