On želi preživjeti težak dan.

he

Breakdown of On želi preživjeti težak dan.

• dan: day
• težak: hard
• željeti: to want
• preživjeti: to survive

Questions & Answers about On želi preživjeti težak dan.

Is the subject pronoun on (he) required, or can it be left out?

In Croatian, on is not required. Croatian is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending already shows the person.

• On želi preživjeti težak dan. – He wants to survive a difficult day.
• Želi preživjeti težak dan. – (He) wants to survive a difficult day.

Both are correct. You include on when:

• you want to emphasize he (not someone else),
• or to avoid ambiguity in a longer context.

What form of the verb is želi, and how does it conjugate?

Želi is the 3rd person singular, present tense of željeti (to want).

Present tense of željeti (standard Ijekavian form):

• ja želim – I want
• ti želiš – you (sg) want
• on/ona/ono želi – he/she/it wants
• mi želimo – we want
• vi želite – you (pl/formal) want
• oni/one/ona žele – they want

So in the sentence, želi agrees with on (he).

Why is preživjeti in the infinitive form after želi?

In Croatian, the typical structure for want to do something is:

željeti + infinitive

So:

• On želi preživjeti težak dan.
  literally: He wants *to survive a difficult day.*

Other examples:

• Želim spavati. – I want to sleep.
• Oni žele putovati. – They want to travel.

You must use the infinitive after željeti in this pattern, not a conjugated verb like in English.

What does preživjeti exactly mean here? “To survive” or “to get through”?

Preživjeti literally means to survive, but it often has a figurative, milder meaning:

• literal: preživjeti nesreću – to survive an accident
• figurative: preživjeti težak dan – to get through / make it through a hard day

In this sentence, unless there is a dramatic context, it usually means:

• He wants to get through the difficult day.

Is preživjeti perfective or imperfective? How does that affect the meaning?

Preživjeti is perfective. That means it focuses on the completion of the action.

So:

• On želi preživjeti težak dan.
  → He wants the whole thing to be successfully completed: to end up having survived the day.

The imperfective counterpart is preživljavati (to be surviving, to keep surviving), used for ongoing or repeated action:

• On želi preživljavati bez stresa. – He wants to live/survive without stress (as a general/ongoing state).

Could the word order be different, like On želi težak dan preživjeti?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible. Possible variants:

1. On želi preživjeti težak dan. – neutral, most natural.
2. On želi težak dan preživjeti. – also correct; slight emphasis on težak dan as the thing he wants to survive.
3. Želi preživjeti težak dan. – no subject pronoun; still natural.

Putting preživjeti at the very end (On želi težak dan preživjeti) is more stylistic and somewhat more emphatic or poetic, but still grammatical.

What case is težak dan in, and why?

Težak dan is in the accusative singular (masculine).

• The verb preživjeti takes a direct object in the accusative: to survive what? → dan.
• The adjective težak must agree with dan in gender, number, and case:
  • gender: masculine
  • number: singular
  • case: accusative

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative looks the same as the nominative:

• Nominative sg: težak dan – a difficult day
• Accusative sg: težak dan – (survive) a difficult day

So even though it looks like nominative, its function here is accusative object.

Why is it težak dan, not teški dan or teškog dana?

Because of case and agreement:

1. težak dan

   • masculine singular nominative/accusative
   • used for subject or direct object (inanimate)
   • correct here as the object of preživjeti.

2. teški dan

   • could be nominative plural (teški dani – difficult days)
   • or masculine singular nominative with a different adjective pattern in some contexts, but not the right form here.

3. teškog dana

   • masculine singular genitive
   • used after certain prepositions or in other genitive functions, e.g.:
     • kraja teškog dana – the end of a difficult day

In our sentence, we need a direct object, so accusative → težak dan.

Does težak mean “heavy” (in weight) or “difficult”? How do I know?

Težak can mean both:

1. heavy (physical weight)

   • težak kovčeg – a heavy suitcase

2. difficult / hard (emotionally, mentally, situationally)

   • težak ispit – a difficult exam
   • težak dan – a hard/difficult day

In težak dan, context clearly suggests difficult / challenging, not literally heavy in weight. Croatian uses težak for many metaphorical “heavy” things, similar to English “heavy day” → “hard day”.

How would the sentence change if the person is female?

Only the subject pronoun changes; the rest stays the same:

• On želi preživjeti težak dan. – He wants to survive a difficult day.
• Ona želi preživjeti težak dan. – She wants to survive a difficult day.

The verb želi and the phrase preživjeti težak dan do not change with the subject’s gender.

Is želi the only way to say “wants”, or can I use hoće?

You can use both željeti and htjeti, but they have different nuances and usage:

• željeti – neutral “want”, often a bit more polite/neutral in tone.

  • On želi preživjeti težak dan.

• htjeti – also “want”, sometimes sounds more direct, stronger, or more colloquial depending on context.

  • On hoće preživjeti težak dan.

In many contexts they are interchangeable, but željeti is safer and more neutral, especially for learners.

How do I pronounce želi and preživjeti?

Approximate guidance for English speakers:

• želi: /ʒɛli/

  • ž = like s in measure
  • e = like e in get
  • li = like lee

• preživjeti: roughly /prɛʒiːvjeti/ (exact stress can vary by dialect; in standard Croatian usually prèživjeti – stress on pre)

  • pr = like pr in press
  • e = as in get
  • ž = as in measure
  • i = like ee in see
  • v = as in very
  • je = like ye in yes
  • ti = like tee

Each vowel is pronounced clearly; there are no silent letters.

Is this sentence in the present or future tense? Could it refer to the future?

Grammatically, želi is present tense.

However, just like in English (“He wants to survive the day”), in context it can imply a near‑future situation:

• On danas želi preživjeti težak dan. – Today he wants to get through a difficult day.

If you want a clearly future construction about wanting in the future, you might say:

• On će željeti preživjeti težak dan. – He will want to survive a difficult day.

But most of the time, the simple present želi is enough, and context clarifies the time frame.

Is this form preživjeti used everywhere in the former Yugoslav area, or is there a variant?

Preživjeti is the standard Croatian (Ijekavian) form.

In Serbian (Ekavian), you will see:

• preživeti instead of preživjeti

Meaning and usage are the same; it’s mostly a difference in the ije / e reflex:

• Croatian: preživjeti
• Serbian (Ekavian): preživeti

Could I replace težak dan with a pronoun? How would that work?

Yes. You can use an object pronoun to replace težak dan:

• On želi preživjeti ga. – literally: He wants to survive it.
  But more natural is:
• On ga želi preživjeti.

Clitic pronouns (like ga, je, ih) normally go right after the first stressed word (often the verb or subject), so:

• On ga želi preživjeti. – He wants to survive it.
• Želi ga preživjeti. – (He) wants to survive it.

The full noun phrase težak dan is more explicit; ga just stands for him/it, masculine singular.