Breakdown of Danas imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski.
Questions & Answers about Danas imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski.
Pola sata means “half an hour” or literally “half of an hour.”
Grammatically:
- pola = half (of)
- It always takes a genitive singular noun after it.
- sat (hour) → genitive singular: sata
So:
- ✅ pola sata = half of an hour
- ❌ pola sat = wrong, because sat is nominative, and pola requires genitive.
This pattern works with other nouns too:
- pola kruha – half (of) a bread
- pola jabuke – half (of) an apple
In this sentence, hrvatski is short for hrvatski jezik (Croatian language).
- za hrvatski literally: for Croatian (language)
- Saying just hrvatski is normal and very common when talking about languages, e.g.
- Učim hrvatski. – I’m learning Croatian.
You could say:
- za hrvatski jezik – also correct, just a bit more formal or explicit.
But:
- za hrvatskog would be wrong here, because za needs accusative after it, and hrvatskog is genitive (or accusative of a person, not a language).
So:
- ✅ za hrvatski
- ✅ za hrvatski jezik (more explicit)
- ❌ za hrvatskog (wrong meaning / wrong case here)
After the preposition za, Croatian normally uses the accusative case.
- za + hrvatski → accusative singular masculine
For masculine inanimate nouns and adjectives, the accusative form looks the same as the nominative:
- Nominative: hrvatski (Croatian)
- Accusative: hrvatski (Croatian) ← same form
That’s why you don’t see any visible change, but grammatically it’s accusative.
Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and these versions are all grammatically correct:
- Danas imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski.
- Imamo danas samo pola sata za hrvatski.
- Danas imamo za hrvatski samo pola sata.
All basically mean the same thing: Today we only have half an hour for Croatian.
Differences are mostly about emphasis and naturalness:
- Starting with Danas is very common; it sets the time frame.
- Moving things around can stress a particular part:
- Samo pola sata imamo danas za hrvatski. – stronger emphasis on only half an hour.
But the original sentence is the most neutral and natural-sounding version.
Samo means “only / just” and can move around, but its position changes what is being limited:
Danas imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski.
- We are limiting the amount of time: only half an hour.
Imamo samo danas pola sata za hrvatski.
- This sounds like: We have half an hour for Croatian *only today (not on other days).*
- Now “danas” (today) is what’s being limited.
So:
- If you want to say only half an hour, keep samo directly before pola sata.
- If you move samo before danas, you change the meaning.
Imamo is the present tense of imati (to have).
- Danas imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski.
= Today we (will) only have half an hour for Croatian.
In Croatian, the present tense is often used for:
- Scheduled or known future events, especially with a time expression like danas, sutra (tomorrow), večeras (this evening), etc.
You could also say:
- Danas ćemo imati samo pola sata za hrvatski.
– more explicitly future: Today we will have only half an hour for Croatian.
Both are correct; the original is just more natural in everyday speech.
Imati means “to have.” Present tense:
- ja imam – I have
- ti imaš – you (sg.) have
- on/ona/ono ima – he/she/it has
- mi imamo – we have
- vi imate – you (pl./formal) have
- oni/one/ona imaju – they have
So imamo = “we have.”
The noun sat (hour, clock) changes with numbers:
- 1 sat – one hour (nominative singular)
- 2 sata, 3 sata, 4 sata – two/three/four hours (special form)
- 5 sati, 6 sati, ... – five/six/etc. hours (genitive plural form)
With pola:
- pola sata – half (of) an hour → genitive singular after pola.
So:
- 1: jedan sat
- 2: dva sata
- 5: pet sati
- 0.5: pola sata
Yes, both exist:
- pola sata – standard, neutral, used in writing and speech.
- pol sata – more colloquial / informal, very common in everyday spoken Croatian.
Meaning is the same: half an hour.
So:
- In careful or written Croatian: pola sata
- In casual speech: you’ll often hear pol sata, pol kile, etc.
Yes, that is grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.
Danas imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski.
→ We have only half an hour for Croatian (for doing Croatian, for a Croatian lesson).Danas imamo samo pola sata hrvatskog.
→ Literally: We have only half an hour of Croatian.
This sounds more like half an hour of Croatian class/lesson as a subject.
Both are understandable; za hrvatski is more neutral and common when talking about time available for an activity.
Yes, you can move danas:
- Danas imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski.
- Imamo samo pola sata za hrvatski danas.
Both are correct. Putting danas at the beginning is very typical; it sets the time frame right away. At the end it’s still natural, just with a slightly different rhythm. The core meaning doesn’t change.
You can keep the same pattern:
Danas imamo samo pola sata za + [language].
Some examples:
- Danas imamo samo pola sata za engleski. – Today we only have half an hour for English.
- Danas imamo samo pola sata za njemački. – …for German.
- Danas imamo samo pola sata za francuski. – …for French.
Just replace hrvatski with the appropriate language name in its masculine form (the usual dictionary form for languages).