Learn Hardcore Croatian: I kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan i nastaviti govoriti hrvatski. - Even when I am confused, I try to be persistent and keep speaking Croatian.

I kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan i nastaviti govoriti hrvatski.

Even when I am confused, I try to be persistent and keep speaking Croatian.

Breakdown of I kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan i nastaviti govoriti hrvatski.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Croatian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Croatian now

Questions & Answers about I kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan i nastaviti govoriti hrvatski.

Why does the sentence start with I kad? Could I just say Kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam… without I?

Yes, you can say Kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan… and it is grammatically correct.

Starting with I kad adds the meaning of even when / and when and strongly links this sentence to what came before it.

Kad sam zbunjen… = When I’m confused… (neutral)
I kad sam zbunjen… = And even when I’m confused… / Even when I’m confused…

In real context, I here usually continues a previous idea, like:

Teško je, učim puno. I kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan…
(It’s hard, I study a lot. And even when I’m confused, I try to be persistent…)

So:

With I – feels like a continuation, often with a nuance of “even then”.
Without I – a standalone general statement about what happens when you’re confused.

What is the difference between kad and kada? Could I say I kada sam zbunjen?

Kad and kada mean the same thing: when.

kad – shorter, more informal, very common in speech and in most writing.
kada – a bit more formal or emphatic; common in careful writing or when you want a slightly “heavier” or more solemn tone.

So you can say:

I kad sam zbunjen… (most natural in everyday speech)
I kada sam zbunjen… (equally correct; a bit more formal or emphatic)

Grammatically they are interchangeable; the difference is style, not meaning.

Why is it sam zbunjen and not something like sam zbunjenI or zbunjen sam? How does that work?

The structure here is:

sam – 1st person singular of biti (to be) in the present tense.
zbunjen – past participle/adjectival form meaning confused (masculine, singular).

So (Ja) sam zbunjen means I am confused.

About the form and order:

Gender and number
- zbunjen – masculine singular (speaker is male)
- If the speaker is female, it must be zbunjena:
  - (Ja) sam zbunjena – I am confused (female speaker)
Word order Both orders are fine and common:
- Ja sam zbunjen.
- Zbunjen sam.

The meaning is the same; Zbunjen sam can sound a bit more expressive or focused on the state of being confused. There is no form zbunjenI here; the ending -i would be for masculine plural (e.g. zbunjeni = confused (they, masc. plural)).

Why is it pokušavam biti uporan, using biti (to be) in the infinitive? Could it be pokušavam da budem uporan?

In standard Croatian, after verbs like pokušavati (to try), you most typically use an infinitive:

pokušavam biti uporan – I try to be persistent

This is the most natural and standard Croatian form.

The construction pokušavam da budem uporan is understood, but:

It sounds more Serbian or non‑standard from a strictly Croatian prescriptive point of view.
In Croatian-language teaching and formal writing, the infinitive after pokušavati is preferred.

So for Croatian:

Correct and natural: pokušavam biti uporan
Best to avoid (if you want clean standard Croatian): pokušavam da budem uporan

What does uporan exactly mean here? Is it more like “persistent” or “stubborn”?

Uporan primarily means persistent, tenacious, someone who keeps going and doesn’t give up.

It can sometimes have a negative shade of meaning, like stubborn or nagging, depending on context, but in a self‑description like this:

pokušavam biti uporan – I try to be persistent

…it is almost always positive: consistent effort, not giving up, continuing to speak Croatian even when it’s hard.

For a clearly negative stubborn, Croatian would more likely use tvrdoglav.

If the speaker is female, does she need to change anything in zbunjen and uporan?

Yes. Croatian adjectives and participles agree in gender with the subject.

For a female speaker, you would say:

I kad sam zbunjena, pokušavam biti uporna i nastaviti govoriti hrvatski.

Changes:

zbunjen → zbunjena (feminine singular)
uporan → uporna (feminine singular)

Everything else stays the same.

Why is there a comma after zbunjen: I kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam…? Is the comma required?

Yes, the comma is required in standard writing.

Structure:

I kad sam zbunjen – subordinate clause of time (when / even when I’m confused)
pokušavam biti uporan… – main clause (I try to be persistent…)

In Croatian, subordinate clauses like kad…, ako…, jer… are normally separated from the main clause by a comma:

Kad sam umoran, idem spavati.
Ako imaš vrijeme, dođi.

So:

I kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan… – correct punctuation.
Omitting the comma in normal prose would be considered a mistake.

Why is it nastaviti govoriti hrvatski with two infinitives? Would it be wrong to say nastavljam govoriti hrvatski instead?

In the sentence pokušavam biti uporan i nastaviti govoriti hrvatski, the structure is:

pokušavam (I try) + infinitives: biti, (i) nastaviti, govoriti

So you have:

pokušavam [biti uporan] i [nastaviti govoriti hrvatski]

Here, nastaviti and govoriti are infinitives governed by pokušavam.

You could say:

Pokušavam biti uporan i nastavljam govoriti hrvatski.

This is also correct, but it changes the structure:

pokušavam – first main verb
nastavljam – second main verb (present tense)

Nuance:

pokušavam biti uporan i nastaviti govoriti hrvatski – focus on the effort to keep going.
pokušavam biti uporan i nastavljam govoriti hrvatski – you state two actions you actually do: you try to be persistent, and you continue speaking Croatian.

Both are grammatical; the original emphasizes the inner effort to continue speaking.

Is nastaviti perfective or imperfective, and does that matter here?

Nastaviti is perfective; its imperfective partner is nastavljati.

In this sentence, nastaviti is in the infinitive after pokušavam, and that is perfectly fine:

pokušavam nastaviti govoriti hrvatski

Using a perfective infinitive after pokušavam is normal when you mean to manage to continue / to succeed in continuing.

Compare:

pokušavam nastaviti govoriti hrvatski – I’m trying to (manage to) continue speaking Croatian.
pokušavam nastavljati govoriti hrvatski – grammatically possible, but stylistically odd; sounds clumsy and very rarely used.

So yes, nastaviti is perfective, and it is exactly the form you want here.

Why is it govoriti hrvatski and not govoriti hrvatski jezik or govoriti na hrvatskom?

All of these are possible, but they differ in style and nuance.

govoriti hrvatski
- Most common, especially in everyday speech.
- Literally: to speak Croatian (with hrvatski as a “language” adjective used as a noun).
govoriti hrvatski jezik
- Literally: to speak the Croatian language.
- Correct, but usually sounds more formal, explanatory, or textbook‑like.
- Often used when you specifically want to mention the Croatian language as an object (e.g. in linguistics talk).
govoriti na hrvatskom
- Literally: to speak in Croatian.
- Also very common and natural.
- Slight nuance: highlights the language as a medium (in Croatian), rather than the object (Croatian).

In everyday speech about your own learning, govoriti hrvatski or govoriti na hrvatskom are the most natural. The sentence you gave uses a very natural colloquial pattern.

Could I say hrvatski govoriti instead of govoriti hrvatski, or is that wrong?

You can say hrvatski govoriti, but it is less neutral and usually used with emphasis.

Default word order:

govoriti hrvatski – neutral, most common.

Fronting hrvatski:

hrvatski govoriti – moves focus to the word hrvatski; it can sound like you are emphasizing in Croatian as opposed to some other language.

For example:

Pokušavam hrvatski govoriti, a ne engleski.
– Emphasis: in Croatian, not in English.

In your sentence, the neutral and most natural order is:

nastaviti govoriti hrvatski.

Why is everything in the present tense (sam, pokušavam) even though it’s a general habit, not something happening right now?

In Croatian (just like in English), the present tense is commonly used for:

General truths and habits
Things you usually do in certain situations

So:

Kad sam zbunjen, pokušavam biti uporan…
= When(ever) I’m confused, I try to be persistent…

This is the standard way to describe habits:

Kad sam umoran, pijem kavu. – When I’m tired, I drink coffee.
Kad ne razumijem, pitam. – When I don’t understand, I ask.

You do not need a special “habit” tense; simple present in Croatian covers both current actions and regular habits, and context tells you which is meant.