Breakdown of Kad budem kod frizerke, poslat ću ti poruku i reći ću ti sviđa li mi se frizura.
Questions & Answers about Kad budem kod frizerke, poslat ću ti poruku i reći ću ti sviđa li mi se frizura.
In Croatian, after time conjunctions like kad (when), you normally don’t use Future I (ću + infinitive) in the subordinate clause. For future time reference you use present/Future II forms instead:
- Kad budem kod frizerke... = When I’m at the hairdresser’s... (in the future)
- Kad ću biti... is usually avoided in this structure.
Formally it’s the present form of biti (to be) (ja budem), but in a kad/when clause it has future meaning. Many grammars describe this use as Future II, and for biti it looks exactly like the present form:
- ja budem, ti budeš, on/ona bude, mi budemo, vi budete, oni budu
Kod most often means at (someone’s place), by, near, and it requires the genitive case.
- frizerka (nom. sg.) → frizerke (gen. sg.) So kod frizerke literally means at the (female) hairdresser’s (place/shop).
It’s gender/word choice:
- frizerka = a female hairdresser
- frizer = a male hairdresser (and often also used generically in some contexts) So you could also say Kad budem kod frizera... if the hairdresser is male (or if you choose that wording).
Both are possible, but the position of ću (a clitic) follows Croatian clitic-placement rules:
- Poslat ću ti poruku. (very common)
- Ja ću ti poslat poruku. (also common; clitic comes after ja) Ću usually comes after the first stressed element of the clause.
Poslati is the full infinitive (to send). Poslat is a common shortened infinitive, especially in everyday speech.
- poslati ću / poslat ću = I will send In careful/formal writing you’ll more often see poslati.
Croatian often repeats the future auxiliary ću with each coordinated verb for clarity and naturalness:
- Poslat ću... i reći ću... (very standard) In some contexts you can omit the second one, especially colloquially, but repeating it is the safe, neutral choice.
Ti (to you) is the indirect object of both verbs: send (to you) and say/tell (to you). Repeating it is normal and clear:
- poslat ću ti poruku i reći ću ti... You can sometimes omit the second ti if it’s obvious, but repetition sounds natural and avoids ambiguity.
Because poruku is the accusative singular of poruka (message) and it’s the direct object of poslati/poslat (to send):
- (nom.) poruka = a message (as a subject)
- (acc.) poruku = a message (as what you send)
The verb sviđati se works like to appeal to rather than to like:
- frizura (nominative) is the thing that is pleasing/appealing → grammatical “subject”
- mi (dative) is the experiencer → to me
- se is part of the verb phrase
So structurally it’s like: Does the hairstyle appeal to me? = Do I like the hairstyle?
Li is a question particle used for yes/no questions, and here it introduces an indirect yes/no question:
- reći ću ti sviđa li mi se frizura = I’ll tell you whether I like the hairstyle. Direct-question version:
- Sviđa li mi se frizura? = Do I like the hairstyle?
Because the sentence starts with a subordinate time clause:
- Kad budem kod frizerke, (subordinate clause)
- poslat ću ti poruku... (main clause) Croatian punctuation normally separates an introductory subordinate clause from the main clause with a comma.