Questions & Answers about Večeras sjedimo bliže prozoru.
Why is there no pronoun mi (“we”)? Why not Mi večeras sjedimo bliže prozoru?
In Croatian, subject pronouns (like mi, ti, on) are usually dropped because the verb ending already shows the person and number.
- sjedimo = “we sit / we are sitting” (1st person plural is clear from the ending -imo)
So Mi večeras sjedimo bliže prozoru is grammatically correct, but it sounds unnecessarily heavy unless you want to emphasize we (for example, contrasting with someone else).
What tense is sjedimo here? Does it mean “we sit” or “we are sitting”?
Croatian has only one present tense, and it covers both:
- “we sit” (general/habitual)
- “we are sitting” (right now / in this situation)
In this sentence, context (and večeras) makes it mean something like English “Tonight we’re sitting closer to the window.”
So sjedimo is present tense, imperfective aspect, and you translate it as either “we sit” or “we are sitting” depending on context.
How can the present tense refer to the future here? We say “tonight we are sitting…”, but it’s about a plan.