Breakdown of Majstor će sutra popraviti krov.
Questions & Answers about Majstor će sutra popraviti krov.
In Croatian, the usual way to form the future tense is:
će + infinitive (often written separately, sometimes enclitic forms attach: majstor će popraviti, popravit će majstor).
- će is the future auxiliary (a form of htjeti – to want).
- popraviti is the infinitive of to repair (perfective).
So majstor će popraviti literally is the master will repair.
Croatian does have synthetic future forms historically (e.g., popravit ću – I will repair), but in practice it’s still this same auxiliary + infinitive combination, just written as one unit in some persons/positions. Here: Majstor će sutra popraviti krov. is the standard analytic (auxiliary + infinitive) future construction.
Croatian distinguishes aspect:
- popraviti – perfective, focused on a completed action (to fix it, get it finished)
- popravljati – imperfective, focused on the process (to be fixing, to repair repeatedly, or over time)
In Majstor će sutra popraviti krov, the speaker expects the action (repairing the roof) to be completed tomorrow. If you said:
- Majstor će sutra popravljati krov.
…this would emphasize that tomorrow he will be busy fixing the roof (the activity itself), not necessarily that it will be finished. It can suggest duration or an ongoing process rather than a neat completed result.
Majstor can mean several related things, depending on context:
- a skilled tradesperson: a handyman, repairman, craftsman (plumber, electrician, roofer, carpenter, etc.)
- a master of a particular craft
- informally, it can also mean a pro, ace, or expert at something
In a sentence about fixing a roof, majstor usually means something like the repairman / the handyman / the tradesman rather than “the master” in a formal/social sense.
Croatian has no articles (no a/an or the). Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context, word order, and sometimes from demonstratives:
- Majstor će sutra popraviti krov.
→ The repairman will fix the roof tomorrow. (in English, articles are needed)
If you really want to stress this specific roof, you might add a demonstrative:
- Majstor će sutra popraviti ovaj krov. – The repairman will fix this roof tomorrow.
But you never use an equivalent of English the as a separate required word.
Yes. Krov (roof) is a masculine noun:
- Nominative singular: krov – subject form (the roof is old)
- Accusative singular: krov – direct object form (he is fixing the roof)
For masculine inanimate nouns, the nominative and accusative singular often look the same. Here krov is the direct object of popraviti, so it is accusative, but it just happens to be identical in form to the nominative:
- Krov je star. – The roof is old. (subject → nominative)
- Majstor će popraviti krov. – The repairman will fix the roof. (object → accusative)
Sutra (tomorrow) is relatively flexible. All of these are grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:
- Majstor će sutra popraviti krov. – neutral, very common word order
- Sutra će majstor popraviti krov. – emphasizes tomorrow more
- Majstor će popraviti krov sutra. – also fine; tomorrow at the end
- Sutra će krov popraviti majstor. – possible, but sounds more marked/stylized
In simple, neutral speech, Majstor će sutra popraviti krov or Sutra će majstor popraviti krov are most natural. Croatian word order is freer than English, but clitics like će must obey certain placement rules (they tend to come in second position).
Croatian is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are often omitted because verb forms and context make the subject clear.
- On će sutra popraviti krov. – He will fix the roof tomorrow.
- Majstor će sutra popraviti krov. – The repairman will fix the roof tomorrow.
Once you say majstor, it is clear who the subject is, so adding on would be redundant and unnatural here. You would use on mainly for contrast or emphasis:
- Ne ti, nego on će sutra popraviti krov. – Not you, but he will fix the roof tomorrow.
Clitics like će generally occupy the so‑called second position in the clause. Roughly:
- Some word or phrase comes first (here: Majstor).
- Then clitics follow (here: će).
- Then the rest of the sentence continues.
So:
- Majstor će sutra popraviti krov.
Subject (Majstor) → clitic (će) → adverb and verb phrase.
If you start with sutra, the clitic follows the first element:
- Sutra će majstor popraviti krov.
Putting će at the very beginning like *će majstor sutra popraviti krov is ungrammatical in Croatian.
Yes. Majstor će popraviti krov sutra. is correct and understandable. Putting sutra at the end is common in speech and slightly emphasizes when:
- Majstor će popraviti krov sutra, a zidove prekosutra.
The repairman will fix the roof tomorrow, and the walls the day after tomorrow.
The neutral, most typical schoolbook order is often with the time expression earlier (Majstor će sutra popraviti krov), but your version is also natural.
English will be fixing suggests an ongoing process. Croatian usually expresses that with the imperfective aspect:
- Majstor će sutra popravljati krov. – The repairman will be fixing the roof tomorrow.
Compare:
- Majstor će sutra popraviti krov. – focuses on completion (it will get done).
- Majstor će sutra popravljati krov. – focuses on the ongoing activity (be busy fixing it).
Both are future tense, but the choice of popraviti vs. popravljati changes the nuance.