Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu, voda više neće kapati cijelu noć. - If the repairman fixes the tap well, the water will no longer drip all night.

Ako majstor dođe, popravit će slavinu.
If the repairman comes, he will fix the faucet. (Maybe he comes, maybe not.)
Kad majstor dođe, popravit će slavinu.
When the repairman comes, he will fix the faucet. (You assume he definitely will come.)

Why is popravi used and not something like će popraviti for the future?

Croatian often uses the present tense of a perfective verb in if-clauses to talk about the future.

popraviti is perfective (focus on the completed action).
popravi is the present of this perfective verb, but in sentences with ako it usually refers to a future completion:

Ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu, …
Literally: If the repairman fixes the faucet well (at some future point), …

In standard Croatian you normally do not say:

✗ Ako će majstor popraviti slavinu, … (sounds wrong/foreign)

So the pattern is:

Ako
- present of a perfective verb → future meaning in the condition.

What’s the difference between popravi and popravlja?

They come from two different aspects of the verb:

popraviti (perfective) → one whole, completed action
- on popravi = he fixes (completely, once)
popravljati (imperfective) → ongoing / repeated / habitual action
- on popravlja = he is fixing / he fixes (in general, repeatedly, or right now)

In an if sentence about one future repair, you use the perfective:

Ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu, voda više neće kapati…
If the repairman fixes the faucet well (once, successfully)...

Ako majstor dobro popravlja slavinu would sound odd; it would suggest some ongoing or habitual repairing, which doesn’t fit this context.

Why is it slavinu and not slavina?

Slavina (faucet, tap) is a feminine noun:

nominative singular (dictionary form): slavina
accusative singular (direct object): slavinu

In the sentence, the faucet is the direct object of the verb popravi (fix):

popraviti što? → slavinu
(to fix what? → the faucet)

Typical pattern for many feminine -a nouns:

slavina (NOM) → slavinu (ACC)
kuća (house) → kuću
stolica (chair) → stolicu

What exactly does majstor mean here? Is it specifically a plumber?

Majstor literally means master / craftsman / skilled worker. It is quite general and can refer to someone who is good at a manual trade:

construction worker
mechanic
electrician
plumber, etc., depending on context

Because the sentence talks about fixing a faucet, in English it’s natural to understand majstor here as a plumber or the repairman.

If you want to be more specific in Croatian, you can say:

vodoinstalater = plumber (more technical term)
serviser = repairman / service technician (context-dependent)

Why is it dobro popravi and not dobar popravi?

Dobro is an adverb: it describes how he fixes the faucet (he fixes it well).

dobro = well (adverb)
dobar = good (adjective – describes a noun)

In dobro popravi slavinu:

dobro modifies the verb popravi → fixes (it) well

Using dobar here (dobar popravi) would be wrong, because dobar must describe a noun, not a verb, e.g.:

dobar majstor = a good repairman
dobra slavina = a good faucet

Could I move dobro to another place in the clause?

Yes, Croatian word order is quite flexible. The most neutral is:

Ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu, …

You may also hear:

Ako majstor popravi slavinu dobro, …
Ako dobro majstor popravi slavinu, …

They all are grammatically possible, but:

Ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu is the most natural and neutral.
Moving dobro later (e.g. popravi slavinu dobro) can slightly change emphasis, but meaning stays essentially the same: the important thing is that he fixes it well.

How is the future tense formed in voda više neće kapati?

Croatian future tense is usually:

present of htjeti (as an auxiliary) + infinitive

For kapati (to drip):

ja ću kapati – I will drip
ti ćeš kapati – you will drip
on/ona/ono će kapati – he/she/it will drip
voda će kapati – the water will drip

In the sentence, it’s negative:

ne + će → neće (written together)
voda neće kapati = the water will not drip

Then više is added for no longer:

voda više neće kapati
literally: the water more will not drip → the water will no longer drip

Why is kapati used and not a form like kapnut će?

Kapati is an imperfective verb – it describes an ongoing or repeated action (dripping):

voda kaplje = the water is dripping / drips

For an action that is continuous over a period, imperfective is natural:

voda više neće kapati cijelu noć
the water will no longer be dripping all night

You could use a perfective like kapnuti (to drip once) in other contexts:

Kapnule su mi dvije kapi.
Two drops have dripped/fallen.

But here we talk about continuous dripping during the night, so kapati is the right choice.

What does više mean here, and where can it go in the sentence?

Više normally means more, but with negation it often means any more / no longer.

Together with neće:

više neće kapati = will no longer drip / will not drip any more

Position:

voda više neće kapati cijelu noć (most natural)
voda neće više kapati cijelu noć (also possible)

Both are understood as no longer. The position više neće is very common and feels neutral.

Without više:

voda neće kapati cijelu noć
the water will not drip all night (doesn’t explicitly say “any more”, but in context, it can imply that).

Why is it cijelu noć and not cijela noć?

This is an example of the accusative of time duration.

noć = night (feminine noun)
cijela = whole (feminine, nominative singular)
cijelu = whole (feminine, accusative singular)

When you express for how long something lasts, Croatian often uses accusative:

cijelu noć = (for) the whole night
cijeli dan = (for) the whole day
svaki dan can also be accusative, meaning every day (in a time sense)

So:

voda više neće kapati cijelu noć
literally: the water will no longer drip the whole night → all night (long)

Why is there a comma after slavinu? Could I put the main clause first?

Yes, both orders are possible.

Conditional clause first (as in your sentence):

Ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu, voda više neće kapati cijelu noć.

Main clause first:

Voda više neće kapati cijelu noć, ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu.

Croatian normally uses a comma to separate the if-clause (ako-clause) from the main clause, regardless of the order.

In practice, starting with Ako… is very common, especially when the condition is the new or important information.

There is no word for a or the in the Croatian sentence. How do I know if it means “a tap” or “the tap”?

Croatian has no articles (no a/an and no the). The noun form slavinu can mean both:

a faucet / tap
the faucet / tap

Which one you choose in English depends on context:

In a specific situation (you and I know which faucet is broken), you’d translate it as the faucet.
In a more general statement, it might be a faucet.

So:

Ako majstor dobro popravi slavinu, voda više neće kapati cijelu noć.
→ If the repairman fixes the faucet well, the water will no longer drip all night.
(Most natural reading in context: you’re talking about a particular faucet that is currently dripping.)

Does majstor have to be male? What if the person fixing the faucet is a woman?

By default, majstor is grammatically masculine and typically refers to a man, but it’s also used generically in speech.

For a clearly female form, you can say:

majstorica = female master / craftswoman / female repair person

Then your sentence would be:

Ako majstorica dobro popravi slavinu, voda više neće kapati cijelu noć.

Nothing else in the sentence changes; only the noun for the person changes.