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Pospremit ću kuhinju čim završimo ručak, zar ne?

Pospremit ću kuhinju čim završimo ručak, zar ne?
I’ll tidy the kitchen as soon as we finish lunch, right?
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Questions & Answers about Pospremit ću kuhinju čim završimo ručak, zar ne?

Why is it pospremit ću and not pospremiti ću?

The full infinitive is pospremiti (to tidy up / put away). In everyday Croatian, many speakers drop the final -i and use a “short infinitive”: pospremit.
So:

  • pospremiti ću = more standard / careful
  • pospremit ću = very common in speech and informal writing

Both mean the same here.

What exactly is ću and why is it separated from the verb?

Ću is the 1st person singular future auxiliary (from htjeti = to want), used to form the future tense:

  • (ja) ću = I will

Croatian often forms the future as: infinitive + clitic auxiliary
So pospremit ću literally corresponds to tidy-up will-I → I’ll tidy up.

Can I also say Ja ću pospremiti kuhinju?

Yes. That’s another very common word order:

  • Pospremit ću kuhinju… (more neutral / “I’ll tidy up…”)
  • Ja ću pospremiti kuhinju… (adds emphasis on ja = I, e.g. “I will (not someone else)”)

Both are correct; it’s mainly about emphasis and style.

Why is ću in the second position (pospremit ću)?

Ću is a clitic (an unstressed “attached” word). Croatian clitics typically go in the second position of the clause—after the first stressed element.
Here, the first element is pospremit, so ću comes right after it: Pospremit ću…

If the sentence started with something else, ću would follow that:

  • Sutra ću pospremiti kuhinju. (Tomorrow I’ll tidy the kitchen.)
What case is kuhinju and why?
Kuhinju is accusative singular of kuhinja (feminine). It’s in the accusative because it’s the direct object of pospremiti (to tidy up): tidy up what? → kuhinju.
What does čim do, grammatically?

Čim is a conjunction meaning as soon as. It introduces a time clause and implies that the action in the main clause happens immediately after the action in the čim clause:

  • Pospremit ću… čim završimo… = I’ll tidy up as soon as we finish…
Why is it čim završimo ručak and not a future form like čim ćemo završiti ručak?

In Croatian, after time conjunctions like čim, kad, dok, prije nego, you usually use the present tense form even when referring to the future.
So završimo is present in form, but future in meaning here:

  • čim završimo ručak = as soon as we finish lunch

Using an explicit future (čim ćemo završiti) is generally less natural in standard Croatian.

Why is it završimo ručak (accusative) and not something like “after lunch”?

Završiti often takes a direct object: završiti + accusative = finish something
So završimo ručak means we finish (eating) lunch.

If you want “after lunch” as a time expression, you’d more likely say:

  • nakon ručka (after lunch; ručak → ručka is genitive after nakon)
What does zar ne? mean and how is it used?

Zar ne? is a very common tag question meaning right? / isn’t it? It usually expects agreement from the listener.
It’s similar in function to English tags, but it doesn’t change with the verb the way English does.

Examples:

  • Idemo, zar ne? = We’re going, right?
  • To je dobro, zar ne? = That’s good, isn’t it?
Why is there a comma before zar ne? (and also before čim…)?

Two reasons: 1) A subordinate clause introduced by čim is typically separated by a comma:
Pospremit ću kuhinju, čim završimo ručak… 2) A tag question like zar ne? is set off with a comma because it’s an added conversational “tail”:
…, zar ne?