Breakdown of Prvi pokušaj da govorim samo hrvatski cijeli dan bio je težak, ali zanimljiv.
Questions & Answers about Prvi pokušaj da govorim samo hrvatski cijeli dan bio je težak, ali zanimljiv.
Pokušaj (attempt) is a masculine noun in Croatian.
Adjectives and ordinal numbers must agree with the noun in:
- gender
- number
- case
So:
- pokušaj = masculine, singular, nominative
→ therefore prvi must also be masculine, singular, nominative.
Prva would be feminine, and prvo would be neuter, which would be wrong here.
Croatian often uses da + present tense instead of the infinitive to express things like:
- intended actions
- attempted actions
- wishes, plans, purposes
So:
- pokušaj da govorim = literally: the attempt that I speak
(functionally = attempt to speak)
Using govoriti here (pokušaj govoriti) is possible, but:
- pokušaj da + present is more natural and common in modern standard Croatian.
- da + present works somewhat like an English infinitive (to speak) in many constructions.
Croatian does not have a separate subjunctive mood like many Romance languages.
However, da + present tense often fulfills functions similar to the English subjunctive or to that + clause, such as:
- wishes: Želim da dođeš. – I want you to come.
- commands/recommendations: Važno je da učiš. – It’s important that you study.
- attempts/plans: pokušaj da govorim – attempt to speak
So, you can think of da govorim as:
- grammatically: conjunction da + present tense
- functionally: often similar to a subjunctive-like or infinitive-like clause
The tense inside the da‑clause is relative to the time frame of the main verb, not to the real-world time.
- Main clause: Prvi pokušaj … bio je težak – past
- Subordinate clause: da govorim – present relative to that attempt
So da govorim means that I speak / to speak at that time.
Croatian does not shift this to a past form inside the da‑clause.
Both orders are possible:
- samo hrvatski cijeli dan – focuses more on the language (only Croatian, for the whole day)
- cijeli dan samo hrvatski – focuses more on the duration (the whole day, only Croatian)
Word order in Croatian is flexible and is often used to adjust emphasis and rhythm.
Neither version is grammatically wrong; it is mostly about what you want to highlight.
Cijeli dan is in the accusative singular:
- dan (day) – masculine, accusative singular: dan
- cijeli (whole) – masculine, accusative singular: cijeli
Accusative is used here as an accusative of duration:
- cijeli dan = for the whole day / all day long
This is a standard way in Croatian to express how long something lasts.
Yes, you can say both:
- cijeli dan – accusative of duration; very common, slightly more neutral
- cijelog dana – genitive; often a bit more descriptive or stylistic, like during the whole day
In this sentence, cijeli dan is the most typical and straightforward option, but cijelog dana would still be acceptable Croatian, with only a slight nuance difference.
The subject of bio je težak is pokušaj (attempt), which is:
- masculine
- singular
The past tense participle and the adjective must agree with the subject:
- bio – masculine singular past form of biti (to be)
- težak – masculine singular nominative adjective
If the subject were neuter, you would get bilo je teško, but here the subject is masculine (pokušaj), so you need bio je težak.
Both adjectives describe the same noun:
- pokušaj (attempt) – masculine singular
Therefore:
- težak (hard) – masculine singular nominative
- zanimljiv (interesting) – masculine singular nominative
They both agree with pokušaj, even though the noun itself is not repeated:
- Prvi pokušaj … bio je težak, ali zanimljiv.
- Literally: The first attempt … was hard, but (was) interesting.
Yes, you can.
Two options:
bio je težak, ali zanimljiv
- The verb bio je is understood for the second adjective and is left out.
- This is very natural and common: one verb, two adjectives.
bio je težak, ali je bio zanimljiv
- Repeats the verb.
- Also correct, a bit more explicit, maybe slightly more emphatic.
The shorter version in your sentence is stylistically smoother and fully grammatical.
In this sentence, I am not the grammatical subject.
The subject is:
- Prvi pokušaj da govorim samo hrvatski cijeli dan – The first attempt to speak only Croatian all day
So we have:
- Subject: pokušaj (attempt)
- Verb: bio je (it was)
- Description: težak, ali zanimljiv (hard but interesting)
The sentence says that the attempt was hard but interesting, not I was hard but interesting.
Therefore, you use je (3rd person) with bio, not sam (1st person).
Both are possible:
- hrvatski – literally Croatian, but commonly understood as Croatian (language).
- hrvatski jezik – explicitly Croatian language.
In everyday speech, when it is clear that you are talking about languages, people normally just say:
- govorim hrvatski
- učim hrvatski
- samo hrvatski cijeli dan
Using hrvatski jezik is more explicit or formal, and in this sentence it would feel heavier than necessary.
Yes, Croatian allows various orders, with slight differences in emphasis and style:
- bio je težak – neutral, very common
- je bio težak – also possible; je tends to go in the second position in the clause, so this can appear depending on what comes before
- težak je bio – puts emphasis on težak (hard), a bit more expressive or contrastive
The given sentence uses the most neutral and natural pattern: bio je težak.
Yes, there is an important difference:
- težak – adjective; must agree with a noun (here, pokušaj).
- teško – adverb or neuter adjective form.
In this sentence, težak describes the pokušaj (attempt), which is masculine:
- pokušaj je bio težak – the attempt was hard
If you said bilo je teško, you would have:
- implied or dummy subject (like English it): it was hard (more abstract)
- or referring to some general situation, not explicitly pokušaj.
Because the clear subject in your sentence is pokušaj, the correct form is bio je težak, not bilo je teško.