Breakdown of I odrasli ponekad naprave iznimku i pojedu kolač prije ručka.
Questions & Answers about I odrasli ponekad naprave iznimku i pojedu kolač prije ručka.
In Croatian, i primarily means and, but at the beginning of a sentence it often has an additional nuance:
- I odrasli ponekad naprave iznimku...
= Even adults / Adults too sometimes make an exception...
So i here adds the idea of also / even, comparing adults with some other group (usually children in context).
You could also say:
- Također i odrasli ponekad naprave iznimku. – Adults also sometimes make an exception.
But just I odrasli... is the most natural, compact way to say Even adults / Adults too....
Odrasli is an adjective meaning adult, but in Croatian adjectives can often be used as nouns to refer to a group of people.
Here odrasli is:
- masculine
- plural
- nominative (the subject of the sentence)
It literally means (the) adults or adult people.
This pattern is very common:
- mladi – (the) young people
- stari – (the) old people
- bolesni – (the) sick (people)
So I odrasli ponekad… = And adults / Even adults sometimes…
Naprave is:
- from the verb napraviti = to make / to do
- 3rd person plural
- present tense (they make)
- perfective aspect
Perfective aspect focuses on the completed action. With ponekad (sometimes), it means Sometimes, they (fully) do/make it (on a given occasion).
Compare:
- Raditi / praviti – to do/make (imperfective, ongoing or repeated)
- Napraviti – to do/make (once, to completion) (perfective)
So ponekad naprave iznimku = sometimes (on a particular occasion) they make an exception.
Iznimku is the accusative singular of iznimka (feminine noun) = exception.
- Nominative: iznimka (the exception – subject)
- Accusative: iznimku (the exception – direct object)
In napraviti iznimku (to make an exception), iznimku is the direct object of the verb napraviti, so accusative is required.
This verb + noun combination is a fixed collocation in Croatian:
- napraviti iznimku = to make an exception
- napraviti pauzu = to take a break
- napraviti pogrešku = to make a mistake
Both mean to make an exception, and both are correct:
- napraviti iznimku – very common, slightly more colloquial
- učiniti iznimku – also common, can sound slightly more formal or “bookish” in some contexts
In this sentence, napraviti iznimku is perfectly natural and normal everyday speech. You could swap it for učiniti iznimku without changing the meaning.
Yes, you could say jedu kolač prije ručka, but there is a nuance.
- jesti (imperfective) – to eat, focusing on the process or repeated action:
- Oni jedu kolač. – They are eating cake (right now) / They eat cake.
- pojesti (perfective) – to eat up / to finish eating, focusing on the completed action / whole portion:
- Oni pojedu kolač. – They (fully) eat the cake, they finish it.
In i pojedu kolač prije ručka, pojedu suggests they actually go ahead and eat (the whole piece/portion) before lunch – a completed “naughty” act, not just that they are in the process of eating.
With ponekad naprave iznimku i pojedu kolač, both verbs (naprave, pojedu) are perfective, describing a whole single event:
They make an exception and (really) eat the cake before lunch.
Croatian often uses a singular countable noun where English would use:
- an uncountable noun (cake in general), or
- a phrase like a piece of cake.
In context, pojesti kolač usually means:
- to eat a (piece of) cake
- to have some cake (one serving)
Some nuances:
- pojesti kolač – eat (a serving / one cake / the cake)
- pojesti kolače (plural) – eat cakes (several cakes / several pieces)
So pojedu kolač here is understood as they eat a serving / a piece of cake, not necessarily an entire whole cake.
In the sentence, kolač is in the accusative singular:
- Verb: pojedu – they eat (up)
- Direct object: kolač – what they eat → accusative
Kolač is a masculine noun. Its basic forms:
- Nominative sg.: kolač – (the) cake (subject)
- Accusative sg.: kolač – (the) cake (object) – same form as nominative
- Genitive sg.: kolača
- Dative/locative sg.: kolaču
- Instrumental sg.: kolačem
- Nominative pl.: kolači
- Accusative pl.: kolače
Here, because it’s a direct object of a verb of eating, we use the accusative, which for this noun looks the same as the nominative.
The preposition prije (before) always requires the genitive case.
- prije + genitive = before (something)
Ručak (lunch) is a masculine noun:
- Nominative: ručak
- Genitive: ručaka (plural), ručak has irregular sg. gen: ručaka? Wait: actually: ručak → gen sg ručaka? No, that’s plural; hold on. Let's correct:
- Nominative sg.: ručak
- Genitive sg.: ručaka is wrong; actual gen sg is ručaka? No, standard is:
- Nominative sg.: ručak
- Genitive sg.: ručka
- So for before lunch we need genitive singular: ručak → ručka
Thus:
- prije ručka = before lunch
Other examples:
- prije posla – before work
- prije škole – before school
- prije večere – before dinner
Always prije + genitive.
Yes, you can say:
- Ponekad i odrasli naprave iznimku i pojedu kolač prije ručka.
Both:
- I odrasli ponekad naprave iznimku...
- Ponekad i odrasli naprave iznimku...
are correct and natural.
Nuance:
- I odrasli ponekad... – starts with even/also adults, emphasising adults.
- Ponekad i odrasli... – starts with sometimes, then adds even adults, so the first focus is on sometimes, then on the fact that adults too do this.
The overall meaning is the same; it’s just a slightly different emphasis.
Croatian is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns (like ja, ti, on, oni) are often omitted because the verb ending already shows the person and number.
In naprave and pojedu:
- 3rd person plural present endings are -e (for some verbs) or -u:
- oni naprave – they make
- oni pojedu – they eat (up)
Since the subject odrasli (adults) is already mentioned, you don’t need oni:
- Odrasli ponekad naprave iznimku i pojedu kolač.
literally: Adults sometimes make an exception and eat a cake.
Adding oni (Oni odrasli ponekad naprave...) would be strange here and is not needed.