Breakdown of Na plakat pišemo ne samo datum, nego i cijeli program festivala.
Questions & Answers about Na plakat pišemo ne samo datum, nego i cijeli program festivala.
In Croatian, the preposition na takes different cases depending on the meaning:
- Accusative = motion onto a surface / change of location
- Locative = being on a surface / location with no movement
In the sentence:
Na plakat pišemo…
the idea is "we are writing onto the poster" (we are putting the information there), so it’s seen as motion toward a surface, even if in English we just say "on the poster".
- Na plakat → na
- accusative (plakat) → direction / target
- Na plakatu → na
- locative (plakatu) → location ("on the poster" as in "It is on the poster")
Compare:
- Pišemo na plakat. – We write (onto) the poster.
- Datum je na plakatu. – The date is on the poster.
Pišemo is:
- verb: pisati (to write)
- tense: present
- person: 1st person plural → we write / we are writing
In Croatian, subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, mi, etc.) are usually dropped, because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- Mi pišemo = We write
- Pišemo = We write (pronoun omitted, still clear from the ending -emo)
So Na plakat pišemo… already means We write on the poster… even without mi.
Ne samo … nego i … corresponds to English "not only … but also …".
Pattern:
- ne samo
- element A
- nego i
- element B
In the sentence:
Na plakat pišemo ne samo datum, nego i cijeli program festivala.
→ On the poster we write not only the date, but also the whole program of the festival.
Breakdown:
- ne samo datum = not only the date
- nego i cijeli program festivala = but also the whole program of the festival
Notes:
- nego is used here because of the preceding ne.
- i after nego emphasizes also (you can often hear just nego in speech: ne samo datum, nego cijeli program…).
The comma separates the two contrasted parts in the ne samo … nego (i) … construction.
- Ne samo datum, nego i cijeli program…
Croatian punctuation rules treat this similar to English:
- not only X, but also Y
- ne samo X, nego (i) Y
So you normally place a comma before nego in this pattern.
Datum here is in the accusative singular.
We can see it as a direct object of pišemo:
- (Mi) pišemo datum. – We (are) write the date.
So in the full sentence:
- Na plakat pišemo ne samo datum, nego i cijeli program festivala.
- datum = what we write → direct object → accusative
The phrase is:
- cijeli program festivala
Case breakdown:
- cijeli – adjective, accusative singular masculine
- program – noun, accusative singular masculine
- festivala – noun, genitive singular masculine
Structure and roles:
- cijeli program → accusative (direct object of pišemo)
- festivala → genitive, showing possession or belonging (program of the festival)
So literally:
- pišemo cijeli program festivala
→ we write the entire program of the festival
In Croatian, most descriptive adjectives normally come before the noun:
- cijeli program = the whole program
- novi plakat = the new poster
- veliki festival = the big festival
Adjectives can come after the noun in special styles (poetic, emphatic, or when used predicatively), but the neutral order is:
- adjective + noun → cijeli program, not program cijeli in regular speech.
Both cijeli and čitav can mean "whole / entire", and in many contexts they’re interchangeable:
- cijeli program festivala
- čitav program festivala
→ the entire festival program
Subtle differences:
- cijeli is slightly more neutral and very common.
- čitav can feel a bit more emphatic or colloquial in some contexts, but this varies by region and style.
In this sentence, cijeli program festivala is the most typical, neutral choice.
In this context, program means the program schedule / list of events of the festival, not software.
The noun program in Croatian can mean:
A schedule of events
- program festivala – festival program
- TV program – TV schedule / channel
A software program
- računalni program – computer program
Here, festival makes the meaning clear: program festivala = festival schedule.
Yes, that is possible.
Both:
- Na plakat pišemo ne samo datum, nego i cijeli program festivala.
- Pišemo na plakat ne samo datum, nego i cijeli program festivala.
are grammatically correct.
Differences:
- Starting with Na plakat slightly emphasizes the place/target ("On the poster we write…").
- Starting with Pišemo is a more neutral "subject–verb–other" flow.
Croatian word order is relatively flexible; the choice often depends on what you want to emphasize first.
Yes:
Na plakat pišemo… → present tense, pisati (imperfective)
- Focus: ongoing/habitual action (we are writing / we write).
Na plakat ćemo napisati… → future tense, napisati (perfective)
- Focus: a single, completed future action (we will write on the poster).
So:
- pišemo = ongoing process / general statement
- ćemo napisati = one-time, complete action in the future
Both are fine, but they describe different time/aspect.
Because festivala is in the genitive singular, which is normally used to show possession or association:
- program festivala = the program of the festival
- festival (nominative) → festivala (genitive)
Using plain festival without changing the ending would be wrong in standard Croatian; after another noun like program, you need genitive to show the relationship:
- program filma – program of the film
- program koncerta – concert program
- program festivala – festival program
No, that would be incorrect.
With ne samo … you must follow with nego (i), not ali.
- ✅ ne samo datum, nego (i) cijeli program – not only the date, but also the whole program
- ❌ ne samo datum, ali i cijeli program
Ali means "but" in a more general, contrastive way (A but B), while nego is required in constructions after a negation that contrast or add a different element:
- ne X, nego Y – not X, but (rather) Y
- ne samo X, nego (i) Y – not only X, but also Y