E-mail je poslan jutros.

The email was sent this morning.

Breakdown of E-mail je poslan jutros.

• biti: to be
• jutros: this morning
• e-mail: email
• poslan: sent

Questions & Answers about E-mail je poslan jutros.

Why is je in the sentence? Doesn’t poslan already mean “sent”?

Je is the present-tense form of biti (to be) and it’s used as the auxiliary in this kind of passive construction:

• E-mail je poslan = literally The email is sent → idiomatically The email was sent (completed action in the past). Poslan is a participle (an “-ed”-type form), not a finite verb by itself, so Croatian normally needs je with it in a full sentence.

Is this sentence in the past tense or present tense? Why does it translate as “was sent”?

Formally, je is present tense (is), but Croatian uses biti (present) + participle to express the perfect (a completed past event), and in the passive this corresponds to English was sent in most contexts. So je poslan is best understood as “(it) has been sent / was sent” depending on context; with jutros (“this morning”) English strongly prefers was sent.

What grammar form is poslan exactly?

Poslan is the passive past participle (often called the trpni pridjev in school grammar) of the perfective verb poslati (to send). It behaves like an adjective and agrees with the subject in gender and number.

Why is it poslan and not poslana or poslano?

Because e-mail is treated as masculine singular in Croatian (a loanword with masculine agreement), so the participle agrees:

• masculine sg: poslan
• feminine sg: poslana
• neuter sg: poslano
• masculine plural: poslani, etc.

What case is E-mail in here?

It’s in the nominative because it’s the subject of the passive sentence:

• E-mail (subject) je poslan (was sent).

In an active version, it would typically be in the accusative:

• Poslao sam e-mail jutros. = I sent an email this morning.

Why is the word order E-mail je poslan and not E-mail poslan je?

Because je is a clitic (an unstressed auxiliary) and Croatian clitics usually come in the second position in the clause. So after the first “chunk” (E-mail), je appears:

• E-mail je poslan jutros.

You can change the order, but je still tries to stay in second position:

• Jutros je poslan e-mail.
• E-mail je jutros poslan.

Can je be omitted?

In standard Croatian, in a normal full sentence, no—you typically keep je. You may see omission in:

• very informal speech,
• headlines / notes / messages (telegraphic style), but learners should generally include it: E-mail je poslan jutros.

What does jutros mean exactly, and how is it different from ujutro?

• jutros = this morning (specifically the morning of “today”)
• ujutro = in the morning (general/habitual: “in the mornings” or “in the morning” as a time period)

Examples:

• Jutros sam rano ustao. = I got up early this morning.
• Ujutro pijem kavu. = I drink coffee in the morning(s).

Is this passive sentence common, or would Croatians say it differently?

It’s correct and common, especially in formal/neutral contexts. But in everyday speech, you’ll also often hear:

• an active sentence: Poslao/Poslala sam e-mail jutros.
• a more “impersonal” phrasing depending on context: Poslan je e-mail jutros. (same meaning, different emphasis)

How would I add “by me” / “by someone” to this sentence?

To express the agent (“by X”), Croatian typically uses:

• od + genitive (common, neutral): E-mail je poslan od mene. = The email was sent by me. You may also encounter:
• od strane + genitive (more bureaucratic/formal): E-mail je poslan od strane korisnika.

Often, Croatian simply omits the agent if it’s obvious or unimportant.

Why is it written E-mail with a hyphen and not just email?

Both appear in real usage. You’ll see:

• e-mail / E-mail (traditional spelling, still common)
• email (increasingly common, especially informal/tech contexts)

Capitalization depends on whether it starts the sentence. The grammar of the sentence doesn’t change.