Learn Hardcore Croatian: U petak imam rok da pošaljem životopis novom poslodavcu. - On Friday I have a deadline to send my CV to the new employer.

u = in / on (here it means on in time expressions)
petak = accusative singular of Friday (form is identical to nominative for inanimate masculine nouns)

You do not use na for days of the week in this sense.
na is used more for surfaces or events: na stolu (on the table), na koncertu (at the concert), etc.

So u petak literally is “in Friday”, but idiomatically it means “on Friday” when talking about time.

Why is it imam rok? Can I just say imam rok without adding anything else, and what exactly does rok mean?

Imam rok literally means “I have a deadline”.

imam = I have (1st person singular of imati, to have)
rok = deadline, due date, sometimes time limit or term depending on context

In everyday speech, imam rok is completely natural and often used without specifying “for what” if the context is clear:

U petak imam rok. – I have a deadline on Friday.
Imam rok za projekt. – I have a deadline for the project.

In your sentence, it’s fully expanded:
U petak imam rok da pošaljem životopis novom poslodavcu.
= I have a deadline on Friday to send my CV to the new employer.

You can also hear:

rok za predaju = submission deadline
rok za prijavu = application deadline

Why is it da pošaljem and not da šaljem or just poslati after imam rok?

This part is very typical Croatian grammar.

da + present tense
Croatian often uses da + present tense where English would use:
- “to + infinitive” (to send), or
- “that I send”.
So:
- imam rok da pošaljem ≈ “I have a deadline to send / that I send”
pošaljem vs šaljem
- pošaljem is perfective (one-time, completed action in the future)
- šaljem is imperfective (ongoing / repeated)
A deadline is about a single, completed action (you must finish sending it by then), so pošaljem is correct:
- imam rok da pošaljem – I have a deadline by which I must send it (one completed act)
- imam rok da šaljem – would sound odd here; it suggests ongoing/repeated sending, which doesn’t fit the idea of a single deadline.
Why not imam rok poslati?
Using the infinitive poslati directly (without da) is much less natural here in Croatian. Native speakers strongly prefer:
- imam rok da pošaljem rather than
- imam rok poslati

So da pošaljem is the normal, idiomatic way to express this purpose/obligation in Croatian.

What tense and aspect is pošaljem, and how would I recognize or form it?

Pošaljem is:

Person: 1st person singular
Tense/form: present tense
Aspect: perfective
Verb: poslati (to send)

In Slavic languages, the present tense of a perfective verb usually refers to a future single action.

So pošaljem often translates as “I will send” in English, especially in contexts like this.

Verb pair:

slati – imperfective (to be sending / to send habitually)
- šaljem, šalješ, šalje…
poslati – perfective (to send – one complete action)
- present: pošaljem, pošalješ, pošalje…

In imam rok da pošaljem, the idea is “I have a deadline by which I will have sent it.”
That’s why the perfective present pošaljem (future meaning) fits perfectly.

Why is it novom poslodavcu and not novog poslodavca? What case is that?

Novom poslodavcu is in the dative singular case.

Dative is often used for the indirect object – typically translated with “to” in English.

poslodavac = employer (nominative)
dative singular of poslodavac = poslodavcu
adjective nov (new), masculine dative singular = novom
novom poslodavcu = to the new employer

Why dative here? Because the verb poslati / slati (to send) naturally takes:

a direct object in accusative: životopis (CV)
and an indirect object in dative: novom poslodavcu (to the new employer)

Structure:

pošaljem (kome? – dative) novom poslodavcu (što? – accusative) životopis.
I will send (to whom?) to the new employer (what?) the CV.

If you said novog poslodavca (accusative), it would mean “the new employer” as the direct object (e.g. “I see the new employer”) – which is not what you want here.

How do the endings in novom poslodavcu show that it’s dative?

In novom poslodavcu, both the adjective and the noun carry dative singular, masculine endings.

Adjective: nov (new)
- nominative masculine singular: nov
- dative masculine singular: novom
Noun: poslodavac (employer)
- nominative singular: poslodavac
- dative singular: poslodavcu

So:

nov + -om → novom
poslodavac + -u → poslodavcu

The pattern to remember:
For masculine singular, dative (living or non-living), you typically see:

adjectives: -om
nouns: -u

Examples:

novom prijatelju – to the new friend
dobrom učitelju – to the good teacher
starom susjedu – to the old neighbour

What’s the difference between životopis, CV, and biografija in Croatian?

In modern Croatian:

životopis – the standard, most correct word for a résumé / CV in job applications.
CV – also used, especially in business/HR contexts, often written as CV or C.V.; understood but feels more international/anglicized.
biografija – more like biography; usually a longer, narrative text about someone’s life (in books, on websites, etc.), not the standard word for job application documents.

For a job:

Say you are sending your životopis.
Job ads often say: Pošaljite svoj životopis or Pošaljite životopis i molbu (Send your CV and cover letter).

So in this sentence, životopis is exactly the right word.

Could the word order be Imam rok u petak da pošaljem životopis…? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Imam rok u petak da pošaljem životopis novom poslodavcu.

This is also correct and natural.

Difference in nuance:

U petak imam rok…
– Slight emphasis on “On Friday…” (when) – you set the time frame first.
Imam rok u petak…
– Slight emphasis on “I have a deadline…” (that deadline happens to be on Friday).

Both mean the same thing in practice, and both are fine. Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and speakers often use it to slightly change which part of the sentence feels more important or topical, but here the difference is minimal.

Why isn’t petak capitalized? In English we write Friday with a capital F.

In Croatian, days of the week are written with a lowercase letter.

So:

ponedjeljak, utorak, srijeda, četvrtak, petak, subota, nedjelja

Even in formal writing, you keep them lowercase.
The same applies to months and seasons:

siječanj, veljača, ožujak…
proljeće, ljeto, jesen, zima

So u petak is correctly written with a small p.

Could I say rok za slanje životopisa instead of rok da pošaljem životopis? What’s the difference?

Yes, both are possible, with a small nuance difference.

rok da pošaljem životopis
- Literally: “a deadline that I send the CV”
- More personal, focused on your action: what you must do by that time.
rok za slanje životopisa
- Literally: “a deadline for sending the CV”
- More impersonal, focused on the event or process of sending.

Both are grammatically correct and natural. In many contexts, they’re almost interchangeable:

U petak imam rok da pošaljem životopis.
U petak imam rok za slanje životopisa.

The first one slightly highlights your obligation, the second sounds a bit more formal/neutral.

Is u petak imam rok da pošaljem… talking about the present or the future?

There are two time layers here:

imam rok – present
- This describes your current situation: Right now, you have a deadline.
da pošaljem – future-oriented action
- pošaljem (perfective present) refers to a single action that will happen in the future (by Friday).

So the sentence as a whole means:

Right now you have a deadline,
which is for something you must do on/by Friday (send the CV).

English often expresses this as:

“I have a deadline on Friday to send my CV…”
Croatian uses present for both parts, but aspect (perfective pošaljem) makes the second part clearly future-oriented.

Is there any difference between u petak imam rok and imam rok do petka?

Yes, there is a subtle difference in meaning:

U petak imam rok
– The deadline falls on Friday. Friday is the exact due date.
Imam rok do petka
– “I have a deadline until Friday.”
– This implies you can do it any time before or up to Friday, and Friday is the last acceptable day.

In many real-life situations, they may be used similarly, but:

u petak imam rok focuses on the day of the deadline,
do petka emphasizes the time window ending on Friday.