Questions & Answers about U kalendar pišem važan datum.
Croatian uses u (in/into) with kalendar in this context because you’re conceptually putting information inside the calendar (into its pages/entries), not on its surface.
- u kalendar – used for entering something as an entry inside the calendar
- U kalendar pišem važan datum. = I’m writing an important date in the calendar.
- na kalendar – would sound like physically writing on the outer surface of the calendar (e.g. scribbling on the cover), and is not the usual way to phrase an entry.
So even though English says on the calendar, Croatian says u kalendar for entries.
The preposition u can take either:
- Accusative – when there is movement into something (direction): u kalendar
- Locative – when talking about being in a place or state: u kalendaru
In the sentence:
- U kalendar pišem važan datum. – I am writing an important date into the calendar.
→ There is an action going towards the calendar, so accusative: kalendar.
Compare:
- Datum je u kalendaru. – The date is in the calendar.
→ No movement, just location → locative: kalendaru.
Here kalendar is accusative singular masculine (inanimate).
How to tell:
- The preposition u with the meaning into takes the accusative.
- Masculine inanimate nouns often have the same form in nominative and accusative singular:
- Nominative: kalendar je na stolu. – The calendar is on the table.
- Accusative: Stavljam bilješku u kalendar. – I’m putting a note into the calendar.
So here, u + kalendar = u + accusative.
Croatian has no articles like English the or a/an.
Definiteness or indefiniteness (“the calendar” vs “a calendar”) is understood from:
- context
- word order
- sometimes additional words (e.g. taj kalendar = that calendar, neki kalendar = some calendar)
So:
- U kalendar pišem važan datum.
can mean:- I’m writing an important date in the calendar, or
- I’m writing an important date in a calendar,
depending on context.
In Croatian, subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, ona, mi, vi, oni…) are usually omitted because the verb ending already shows the person.
- pišem clearly shows 1st person singular (“I write / I am writing”).
- So ja pišem is grammatically correct but usually only used for:
- emphasis: Ja pišem, a ti čitaš. – I write, and you read.
- contrast or clarification.
In neutral sentences, you normally drop the pronoun:
- Pišem važan datum u kalendar. – preferred
- Ja pišem važan datum u kalendar. – sounds stressed/emphatic.
Yes, you can change the word order; the basic meaning stays the same, but emphasis shifts.
All of these are grammatically correct:
- U kalendar pišem važan datum.
– Emphasis on where you are writing (in the calendar). - Pišem važan datum u kalendar.
– More neutral, close to English word order; a common version. - Pišem u kalendar važan datum.
– Slight emphasis that it’s the calendar, not somewhere else. - Važan datum pišem u kalendar.
– Emphasis on the important date.
Croatian word order is relatively flexible, but the most “neutral textbook” version would often be:
- Pišem važan datum u kalendar.
In normal Croatian word order, adjectives usually come before the noun they describe:
- važan datum – an important date
- stari kalendar – an old calendar
- novi telefon – a new phone
Putting the adjective after the noun (e.g. datum važan) is possible but:
- unusual in everyday speech
- used mainly in poetry, very formal style, or for strong emphasis / contrast
So in standard speech and writing, you say važan datum, not datum važan.
važan is the masculine singular form of the adjective važan (“important”), agreeing with datum (a masculine singular noun).
The phrase važan datum here is in the accusative, but:
- Masculine inanimate nouns have the same form in nominative and accusative,
and their adjectives also look the same in those two cases.
So you get:
- Nominative: Važan datum je u kalendaru. – The important date is in the calendar.
- Accusative: Pišem važan datum u kalendar. – I’m writing an important date in the calendar.
Compare with a masculine animate noun, where the adjective does change:
- Nominative: Važan čovjek je ovdje. – An important man is here.
- Accusative: Vidim važnog čovjeka. – I see an important man.
Here, datum is inanimate, so važan stays važan in the accusative.
pišem is the present tense, 1st person singular of pisati (to write), an imperfective verb.
It can correspond to both English forms:
- I write (habitual / general)
- I am writing (right now)
Which one it means depends on context:
- Svaki dan pišem u kalendar. – I write in the calendar every day.
- Sada pišem važan datum u kalendar. – I am writing an important date in the calendar now.
Croatian doesn’t have a separate continuous tense like I am writing; the simple present pišem covers both.
You switch to the past tense (perfect). With pisati (imperfective):
- Masculine speaker:
Pisao sam važan datum u kalendar. - Feminine speaker:
Pisala sam važan datum u kalendar.
If you want to stress that the action was completed / entered (often with a perfective verb), you might use:
- Masculine: Upisao sam važan datum u kalendar. – I entered / wrote down an important date in the calendar.
- Feminine: Upisala sam važan datum u kalendar.
pisati = the process of writing (imperfective)
upisati / zapisati / napisati = completed act of writing/entering (perfective), depending on nuance.
Present tense of pisati:
- ja pišem – I write / am writing
- ti pišeš – you (sg.) write
- on/ona/ono piše – he/she/it writes
- mi pišemo – we write
- vi pišete – you (pl./formal) write
- oni/one/ona pišu – they write
Pronunciation of pišem:
- pi like “pee”
- š like English “sh”
- em as in “them” (without the th)
So roughly: PEE-shem.