Dobivam e-mail svaki dan.

I receive an email every day.

Breakdown of Dobivam e-mail svaki dan.

• svaki: every
• dan: day
• e-mail: email
• dobivati: to receive

Questions & Answers about Dobivam e-mail svaki dan.

What does dobivam literally mean, and which verb does it come from?

Dobivam means “I (am) get(ting) / I receive” in the sense of repeated / ongoing action.
It is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb dobivati (imperfective), whose perfective partner is dobiti (to get, to receive – a single, completed act).
So:

• dobivati – to be getting/receiving regularly or over time
• dobivam – I (regularly) get / I usually receive / I am getting (right now, or habitually)

Why is the present tense (dobivam) used for something habitual like “every day”?

In Croatian, the simple present tense of an imperfective verb is normally used for:

• Habitual actions: Dobivam e-mail svaki dan. = I get e-mail every day.
• General truths / routines: Radim ovdje. = I work here.

Because dobivati is imperfective, dobivam naturally covers “I (regularly) get / I usually get,” so you don’t need any extra word like “usually.”
The phrase svaki dan (“every day”) adds the idea of frequency.

What is the difference between dobivam, dobijam, and primam?

All can appear with a similar meaning, but there are differences:

• dobivam – standard Croatian form from dobivati; very common and good in most contexts.
• dobijam – from dobijati; more typical for some regional/colloquial varieties and in Serbian; in standard Croatian, dobivam is preferred.
• primam – from primati, also “I receive,” a bit more neutral or official, and very common with mail/messages: Primam e-mail svaki dan.

For everyday standard Croatian, Dobivam e-mail svaki dan or Primam e-mail svaki dan are both acceptable.

Is dobivam a completed action like “I got,” or ongoing like “I get / I am getting”?

Dobivam (from dobivati, imperfective) expresses an ongoing or repeated action, not a single completed one.
To talk about a single completed event (“I got an e-mail”), you would usually use the perfective dobiti:

• Dobio sam e-mail. – I got an e-mail. (one event, completed)

So:

• Dobivam e-mail svaki dan. – I (regularly) get e-mail every day.
• Dobio sam e-mail jučer. – I got an e-mail yesterday.

Why is there no word for “an” before e-mail?

Croatian does not have articles like English a/an or the.
The idea of definiteness or indefiniteness is usually understood from context, or indicated in other ways (word order, pronouns, etc.), not with a separate word.

So e-mail by itself can mean “an e-mail,” “the e-mail,” or just “e-mail” in general, depending on the context.
In Dobivam e-mail svaki dan, the most natural English translation is “I get an e-mail every day.”

Why is e-mail not changing its form? Shouldn’t the object be in a different case?

E-mail here is the direct object of dobivam, so it is in the accusative singular.
For masculine inanimate nouns like e-mail, the accusative singular has the same form as the nominative singular:

• Nominative: e-mail (subject) – E-mail je stigao. (The e-mail arrived.)
• Accusative: e-mail (object) – Dobivam e-mail. (I get an e-mail.)

So the form doesn’t change, but the function is accusative in this sentence.

Is e-mail masculine, feminine, or neuter in Croatian? And is it always written with a hyphen?

In Croatian, e-mail is treated as a masculine noun.
You can see this from forms like:

• jedan e-mail (one e-mail – masculine)
• novi e-mail (a new e-mail – masculine adjective)

Spelling:

• You will see both e-mail and imejl (a Croatianized spelling).
• In everyday practice, e-mail without the hyphen (email) also appears, but the hyphenated form e-mail is very common and recognizable.

All of these refer to the same thing; style guides may prefer one or the other, but speakers understand all.

Can I say svakog dana instead of svaki dan? What’s the difference?

Both are correct and mean “every day.”

• svaki dan – literally “every day” (Accusative); very common and neutral.
• svakog dana – literally “of every day” (Genitive); also common, sometimes feels a bit more formal or stylistic, but both are fine in speech and writing.

So you can say:

• Dobivam e-mail svaki dan.
• Dobivam e-mail svakog dana.

The meaning is practically the same.

Can I change the word order, like Svaki dan dobivam e-mail? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the word order, and it stays grammatical:

• Dobivam e-mail svaki dan.
• Svaki dan dobivam e-mail.
• E-mail dobivam svaki dan.

The basic meaning doesn’t change; you still mean “I get an e-mail every day.”
Different word orders mainly change the emphasis:

• Svaki dan dobivam e-mail. – puts light emphasis on “every day” (frequency).
• E-mail dobivam svaki dan. – emphasizes “e-mail” (as opposed to something else).

All are natural in context.

How do you conjugate the verb dobivati in the present tense?

Present tense of dobivati (imperfective):

• ja dobivam – I get / I am getting
• ti dobivaš – you get (sg., informal)
• on/ona/ono dobiva – he/she/it gets
• mi dobivamo – we get
• vi dobivate – you get (pl. or formal)
• oni/one/ona dobivaju – they get

So Dobivam e-mail svaki dan. fits the pattern for ja (I).

Is there any difference in meaning between Dobivam e-mail svaki dan and Dobivam e-mailove svaki dan?

Yes, a small nuance:

• Dobivam e-mail svaki dan. – suggests one e-mail per day (or focuses on the act, not the number).
• Dobivam e-mailove svaki dan. – e-mailove is the plural (“e-mails”), so it suggests several e-mails per day.

Both are correct; you choose singular or plural depending on what you want to say.