U školskoj menzi često imaju jaja i šunku za doručak.

In the school cafeteria they often have eggs and ham for breakfast.

Breakdown of U školskoj menzi često imaju jaja i šunku za doručak.

• imati: to have
• u: in
• i: and
• doručak: breakfast
• često: often
• za: for
• školski: school
• menza: cafeteria
• jaje: egg
• šunka: ham

Questions & Answers about U školskoj menzi često imaju jaja i šunku za doručak.

Why is it u školskoj menzi and not na školskoj menzi?

Both u and na can translate as in / at, but they’re used with different kinds of places.

• u is used for enclosed spaces or interiors: u kući (in the house), u sobi (in the room), u restoranu (in the restaurant).
• na is more for surfaces, events, and some institutions: na stolu (on the table), na koncertu (at the concert), na fakultetu (at university).

A menza (school cafeteria) is treated as an interior space, so you normally say:

• u menzi – in the cafeteria

Therefore u školskoj menzi is the natural choice: in the school cafeteria.

What grammatical form are školskoj and menzi, and why?

Both školskoj and menzi are in the locative singular feminine.

• menza is a feminine noun (ending in -a in the base form: menza).
• In the locative singular (used after u when indicating location), feminine -a nouns typically take -i:
  • menza → menzi
• The adjective školski (school) must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case, so:
  • masculine: školski restoran
  • feminine nominative: školska menza
  • feminine locative: u školskoj menzi

So u školskoj menzi = in the school cafeteria, with both words agreeing in locative feminine singular.

Why is the subject (like oni) missing before imaju?

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (like ja, ti, on, oni) are often omitted when the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

• imaju is 3rd person plural (they have).
• From context, they can refer to the cafeteria staff, the school, or “they in general”.

So instead of:

• Oni u školskoj menzi često imaju jaja i šunku…

it’s more natural to say:

• U školskoj menzi često imaju jaja i šunku…

The pronoun oni is used only when you want to emphasize or clarify who “they” are.

Could jaja i šunku be the subject? Why is imaju still plural?

No, jaja i šunku are objects, not the subject.

The structure is:

• (oni) – subject (understood, not spoken)
• imaju – verb (they have)
• jaja i šunku – direct objects (what they have)

imaju is plural because the understood subject is plural (oni = they), not because of jaja and šunku.

If jaja i šunka were the subject, you would see something like:

• Jaja i šunka su za doručak. – Eggs and ham are for breakfast.

Here jaja i šunka is the subject and the verb is su (are).

Why is it imaju and not ima?

imati (to have) is conjugated differently for singular and plural:

• on / ona / ono ima – he / she / it has
• oni / one / ona imaju – they have

In the sentence, the implied subject is they, so we need the 3rd person plural:

• imaju – they have

ima would mean he/she/it has, which doesn’t fit the context where we’re talking about what “they” (the cafeteria) usually offer.

What is going on with jaja? Why does it end in -a if it’s plural?

jaje (egg) is a neuter noun, and many neuter nouns in Croatian form the plural with -a:

• jaje (egg) → jaja (eggs)
• more (sea) → mora (seas)
• selo (village) → sela (villages)

So:

• jaja is nominative/accusative plural neuter.

Even though it ends in -a, it’s grammatically plural. This is a standard neuter plural pattern in Croatian.

Why is it šunku and not šunka?

šunka (ham) is a feminine noun. In this sentence it’s a direct object of the verb imaju (they have), so it must be in the accusative case.

Feminine -a nouns form the accusative singular by changing -a → -u:

• šunka → šunku
• kava → kavu
• juha → juhu

So:

• imaju šunku = (they) have ham.

If šunka were the subject (nominative), we would keep -a:

• Šunka je skupa. – Ham is expensive.

Why is it za doručak for for breakfast? What case is doručak?

doručak (breakfast) is a masculine noun. After za meaning for (the purpose of), for (a meal), Croatian uses the accusative case.

Masculine doručak has the same form in nominative and accusative singular:

• nominative: doručak je spreman. – breakfast is ready
• accusative: za doručak – for breakfast

The phrase za + accusative is commonly used for meals:

• za doručak – for breakfast
• za ručak – for lunch
• za večeru – for dinner

Where can često go in the sentence? Is često imaju the only correct order?

često (often) is an adverb, and Croatian word order is fairly flexible. Several positions are possible, all grammatical, but with slightly different emphasis:

• U školskoj menzi često imaju jaja i šunku za doručak.
  (neutral, very natural)
• U školskoj menzi imaju često jaja i šunku za doručak.
  (also okay, but često is a bit more emphasized)
• Često u školskoj menzi imaju jaja i šunku za doručak.
  (emphasizes how often it happens, right at the beginning)

The version with često before the verb (često imaju) is the most common “default” style here.

What aspect is imaju and what does it tell us about the action?

imaju comes from the verb imati, which is imperfective.

Imperfective aspect is used for:

• habitual or repeated actions
• ongoing states

Here it expresses a habit or regular offering:

• U školskoj menzi često imaju jaja i šunku za doručak.
  = They often have / serve eggs and ham for breakfast (as a recurring thing).

A perfective equivalent isn’t natural here, because we’re not talking about a single, one‑time event.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say We often have eggs and ham for breakfast in the school cafeteria?

You’d make the subject explicit and change the verb to 1st person plural:

• Mi u školskoj menzi često imamo jaja i šunku za doručak.

Breakdown:

• mi – we
• imamo – we have
• the rest of the sentence stays the same: u školskoj menzi često … jaja i šunku za doručak

You could also drop mi if it’s clear from context:

• U školskoj menzi često imamo jaja i šunku za doručak.

How do I say In the school cafeteria, there are often eggs and ham for breakfast using biti (“to be”)?

You can shift the structure to use biti:

• U školskoj menzi često ima jaja i šunke za doručak.

Notes:

• ima (not imaju) because with this existential use of biti/imati, Croatian tends to use the 3rd person singular form.
• jaja i šunke are now more like “there are eggs and ham” (not direct objects).
• šunke is often put in genitive (šunke) in this pattern, especially if you mean “some ham” rather than a specific piece of ham.

Both versions (with imaju and with ima) are natural, but they feel slightly different:

• imaju = they (the cafeteria) have / serve
• ima = there is / there are (it exists there)