Breakdown of Uvijek pokušam zapisati barem nekoliko savjeta koje mi učiteljica da na satu.
Questions & Answers about Uvijek pokušam zapisati barem nekoliko savjeta koje mi učiteljica da na satu.
Both come from the verb pair pokušati (perfective) – pokušavati (imperfective).
- pokušam = perfective, one whole attempt, often seen as a single, complete try.
- pokušavam = imperfective, ongoing / repeated attempts, more clearly habitual.
In a sentence with uvijek (always), many learners expect the imperfective:
- Uvijek pokušavam zapisati… = I always (habitually) try to write down…
However, in real Croatian, Uvijek pokušam… is also common and natural. It presents each lesson as a separate situation where you make one attempt to write things down. So, it sounds like:
- “Whenever I’m in class, I (make a point to) try to write down at least a few pieces of advice.”
You can use either pokušam or pokušavam here; pokušavam is maybe a bit more “textbook-habitual”, but pokušam is perfectly fine and idiomatic.
All three relate to writing, but with different focuses:
pisati – to write (in general, ongoing action)
- Pišem bilješke. – I am writing notes.
napisati – to write something to completion, to finish writing it
- Napisao sam domaću zadaću. – I wrote / have written my homework.
zapisati – to write down (record something, usually briefly, as a note)
- Zapisao sam broj telefona. – I wrote down the phone number.
In Uvijek pokušam zapisati…, zapisati emphasizes making a note of the advice, not writing long texts. It’s exactly the right verb for “write down (as notes)” in class.
- nekoliko savjeta = a few pieces of advice.
- barem nekoliko savjeta = at least a few pieces of advice.
barem adds the idea of a minimum: “even if I don’t get everything, I manage to write down at least a few.”
You can also say:
- bar nekoliko savjeta
bar and barem are near-synonyms in this meaning (“at least”). barem can sound slightly more neutral/formal, bar a bit more colloquial, but both are very common and acceptable here.
Because nekoliko (“a few, several”) is followed by the genitive plural in Croatian.
- savjet (dictionary form, nominative singular)
- savjeta (genitive plural)
After nekoliko, you must use genitive plural:
- nekoliko savjeta – a few pieces of advice
- nekoliko knjiga – a few books
- nekoliko prijatelja – a few friends
So nekoliko savjeti is grammatically wrong; nekoliko savjeta is correct.
koje refers back to savjeta (pieces of advice).
- savjet is masculine, inanimate
- Plural nominative: savjeti
- In the relative clause, the advice are objects of the verb dati (da), not subjects.
In savjete koje mi učiteljica da, the teacher is the subject and the advice are direct objects. For masculine inanimate plural objects, the accusative form of the relative pronoun is koje:
- nominative plural (subject): koji
- accusative plural (object, inanimate): koje
So:
- savjeti koji su korisni – the advice that are useful (subject → koji)
- savjete koje mi učiteljica da – the advice that the teacher gives me (object → koje)
In your sentence, the object function in the relative clause requires koje.
In koje mi učiteljica da, the verb dati (to give) requires:
- someone gives (subject, nominative) – učiteljica
- something (direct object, accusative) – savjete / koje
- to someone (indirect object, dative) – mi (to me)
mi is the dative form of ja (“I”):
- nominative: ja – I
- accusative: me / mene – me
- dative: mi / meni – to me
Since the teacher gives advice to me, Croatian must use the dative: mi.
me (accusative) would be wrong here because you’re not the direct object of “give”; the advice is.
Croatian has a group of short, unstressed words called clitics (e.g. mi, ti, se, ga, je, sam, će). They normally come in second position in their clause.
In the relative clause:
- First element: koje
- Second position: clitic mi
- Then: učiteljica da
So: koje mi učiteljica da
If you say koje učiteljica mi da, the clitic mi is no longer in second position, which sounds wrong/unnatural to native speakers. Keeping mi in that second place is a core word-order rule for clitics in Croatian.
Both mean a female teacher, but they’re used in different contexts:
učiteljica
- usually for teachers in primary school (younger pupils, more general education)
- also used more generally for “teacher” in everyday speech for kids
profesorica
- used for teachers in high school and university
- can carry a bit more formal or prestigious tone
So in a typical “school class” context with perhaps younger learners, učiteljica fits well. If you imagine a high school / university lecturer, profesorica would be more natural.
dati – davati is another perfective–imperfective pair:
- dati (perfective) – dam, daš, da …
- davati (imperfective) – davam (rare), daješ, daje …
In practice, people normally use:
- da: present tense of dati, for single, complete acts of giving
- daje: present tense of davati, for ongoing or repeated giving
Here, you might expect the habitual daje (“gives (in general)”), but da is also widely used to describe such acts when you see each one as a single complete event. So:
- koje mi učiteljica da – that my teacher gives me (each time, as a concrete act)
- koje mi učiteljica daje – that my teacher (generally/regularly) gives me
Both are grammatically correct; da is slightly more compact and very common in speech. daje puts a tiny bit more emphasis on the ongoing, habitual nature.
sat literally means hour, but in a school context it also means lesson / class period.
Prepositions:
- na satu – literally “on the lesson”, idiomatically “in class”
- u satu is not used with this meaning.
Compare:
- na satu matematike – in math class
- na predavanju – in the lecture
- u razredu – in the classroom (physical room)
So na satu is the standard way to say “during the class / in class” when talking about an event happening while a lesson is in progress.
Yes, it’s correct, and Croatian allows quite flexible word order. Some options:
- Uvijek pokušam zapisati barem nekoliko savjeta koje mi učiteljica da na satu.
- Na satu uvijek pokušam zapisati barem nekoliko savjeta koje mi učiteljica da.
Both mean essentially the same thing. The difference is just in emphasis:
- Starting with Uvijek: emphasizes how often you try (always).
- Starting with Na satu: emphasizes when you try (in class).
Grammatically, both are fine and natural.
English advice is usually uncountable, but Croatian savjet is a countable noun:
- savjet – one piece of advice
- dva savjeta – two pieces of advice
- nekoliko savjeta – several pieces of advice
- puno savjeta – a lot of advice
Forms:
- nominative singular: savjet
- genitive plural: savjeta (used after nekoliko, puno, mnogo etc.)
- nekoliko savjeta – a few pieces of advice
So Croatian treats advice as individual countable items, and that’s why you see savjeta in the genitive plural after nekoliko.
Yes, you can omit barem, and the sentence remains grammatically correct:
- Uvijek pokušam zapisati nekoliko savjeta… – I always try to write down a few pieces of advice…
Without barem, you simply state that you try to write down a few pieces of advice.
With barem, you suggest that this is a minimum goal, maybe implying that there could be more, but you’re at least aiming for a few:
- barem nekoliko savjeta – at least a few pieces of advice.
So the difference is a small nuance of minimum amount / expectation, not grammar.