Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ako ne stignemo završiti projekt do roka, cijeli odjel će imati dodatni sastanak. - If we don’t manage to finish the project by the deadline, the whole department will have an extra meeting.

The verb stići does literally mean “to arrive”, but it also has a very common figurative meaning: “to manage (to do something) in time / to make it (before a deadline)”.

In this sentence:

ne stignemo završiti (projekt) ≈ “we don’t manage to finish (the project in time)”
It implies time pressure or a deadline: we try to finish, but might not manage by then.

So here stići doesn’t mean physically arriving somewhere; it’s about managing to complete something within a time limit.

Why do we say ne stignemo završiti projekt, and not just ne završimo projekt?

Both are grammatically correct, but they have different nuances:

ne stignemo završiti projekt
– literally: we don’t manage to finish the project (in time)
– focuses on time and ability to make the deadline.
ne završimo projekt
– literally: we don’t finish the project
– focuses simply on the fact of not finishing, without necessarily implying a time constraint.

In the context of “do roka” (by the deadline), ne stignemo završiti is more natural because it matches the idea of not managing something in the available time.

Why is stignemo in the present tense after Ako, even though this is about the future?

In Croatian, in if-clauses (Ako …) that refer to the future, you normally use the present tense, not the future tense.

So:

Ako ne stignemo završiti projekt do roka, …
literally: If we don’t manage to finish the project by the deadline, …
but it actually refers to the future situation.

Using future (Ako nećemo stići završiti…) is generally unnatural in standard Croatian in this type of clause. The main clause then carries the future:

cijeli odjel će imati dodatni sastanak – the whole department will have an extra meeting.

Could we say Ako ne završimo projekt do roka instead of Ako ne stignemo završiti projekt do roka?

Yes, you can, and it is grammatically correct:

Ako ne završimo projekt do roka, cijeli odjel će imati dodatni sastanak.

Differences:

Ako ne stignemo završiti…
– emphasizes not managing in time, deadline pressure.
Ako ne završimo…
– a bit more neutral; just means the project doesn’t get finished (though do roka still implies a deadline).

In everyday speech, both versions are fine. The original one is slightly more expressive about the time constraint.

What does do roka mean exactly, and why is rok in that form?

do roka means “by the deadline”.

do = “until / up to / by”
rok = “deadline, due date, time limit”
roka is genitive singular of rok.

The preposition do in this temporal sense always takes the genitive case, so:

nominative: rok (deadline)
genitive: roka → do roka = by the deadline

Related expressions:

na vrijeme – on time (more general, not tied to a specific deadline)
prije roka – before the deadline

Why is it cijeli odjel and not cijela odjel?

Because adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

odjel (department) is masculine, singular, nominative.
The adjective cijeli (whole/entire) has forms:
- masculine: cijeli
- feminine: cijela
- neuter: cijelo

So we use:

cijeli odjel – the whole department (masculine noun)
cijela firma – the whole company (feminine noun)
cijelo selo – the whole village (neuter noun)

How is the future formed in cijeli odjel će imati dodatni sastanak? Could we also say imat će?

Croatian future tense is formed with:

present of “htjeti” (to want) used as an auxiliary → here, the short form će
- the infinitive of the main verb.

So:

će imati = “will have”

Word order options:

cijeli odjel će imati dodatni sastanak
cijeli odjel imat će dodatni sastanak

Both are correct and common. In writing, you’ll often see the auxiliary attached after the infinitive (form 2), but in speech both patterns are fine. The meaning doesn’t change.

Why is završiti (perfective) used here and not završavati (imperfective)?

In Slavic languages, you normally use a perfective verb when you talk about:

completing an action
reaching an endpoint (e.g. finish the project)

Here we care about whether the project gets finished or not, so we use završiti (perfective):

završiti projekt – to finish/complete the project

završavati (imperfective) is more about an ongoing, repeated, or habitual process:

Završavamo projekte jako sporo. – We (tend to) finish projects very slowly.
Upravo završavamo projekt. – We are in the process of finishing the project. (context-dependent)

In an if + by the deadline type sentence, the perfective is the natural choice.

What’s the nuance of dodatni sastanak? Is it the same as “another meeting” or “an extra meeting”?

dodatni sastanak literally means “an additional meeting” and is very close to English “an extra meeting”.

Nuances:

dodatni sastanak
– neutral/official; simply states there will be one more meeting in addition to the regular ones.

Other options:

još jedan sastanak – “one more meeting / another meeting” (more colloquial)
izvanredni sastanak – “extraordinary meeting” (special, exceptional, often urgent)

In this sentence, dodatni sastanak is exactly what you’d expect in a professional context: an extra meeting scheduled because of a problem.

Could we start with Kad instead of Ako: Kad ne stignemo završiti projekt do roka, ...?

You could say it grammatically, but the meaning changes:

Ako ne stignemo završiti projekt do roka, …
– If we don’t manage to finish the project by the deadline, …
– a condition that might or might not come true.
Kad ne stignemo završiti projekt do roka, …
– literally: When we don’t manage to finish the project by the deadline, …
– implies this is something that happens regularly or is expected as a pattern (almost like “whenever we fail to finish on time…”).

For a single, hypothetical situation in the future, Ako is the correct and natural choice.