Sastanak će uskoro početi.

The meeting will start soon.

Breakdown of Sastanak će uskoro početi.

• htjeti: will
• sastanak: meeting
• početi: to start
• uskoro: soon

Questions & Answers about Sastanak će uskoro početi.

Why is će in the second position, and what exactly is it?

Će is the (clitic) present-tense form of htjeti (to want) used to build the future tense. In Croatian, clitics like će normally go in the second position of the clause (roughly: after the first “chunk”).

• Sastanak | će | uskoro početi.
  So it comes right after Sastanak.

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Why is the future formed as će + infinitive (početi) instead of a single conjugated verb form?

Croatian commonly forms the future as:

• ću/ćeš/će/ćemo/ćete/će + infinitive
  Here, the infinitive is početi (to begin/start), and će shows 3rd person singular (he/she/it will).
  So Sastanak će početi = The meeting will start.

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What does uskoro modify, and where can it go in the sentence?

Uskoro means soon and it modifies the verb phrase (will start). It’s fairly flexible:

• Sastanak će uskoro početi. (very natural)
• Sastanak će početi uskoro. (also fine)
• Uskoro će sastanak početi. (possible; puts soon in focus and forces će into second position after Uskoro)

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Why is sastanak in this form—what case is it?

Sastanak is in the nominative singular, because it’s the subject (the thing that will start).
Croatian marks grammatical roles with cases, so you often recognize the subject by its nominative form (and by verb agreement when the verb is fully conjugated).

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Does Croatian have articles like a/the? How do I know if it’s a meeting or the meeting?

Croatian has no articles, so sastanak can correspond to a meeting or the meeting depending on context. If you need to be more specific, Croatian often uses:

• demonstratives: ovaj sastanak (this meeting), taj sastanak (that meeting)
• context and word order to clarify what’s meant

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Why is the verb početi (perfective)? Could I use another verb form?

Početi is perfective, and that fits well because starting is a one-time, bounded event (the moment it begins).
You can also express a similar idea with the imperfective present for scheduled/near-future events:

• Sastanak uskoro počinje. = The meeting is starting soon / The meeting starts soon.
  But the given sentence with će + početi is a straightforward future statement.

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How do I pronounce će and početi, especially č vs ć?

• ć (as in će) is a “softer” sound than č.
• č (as in početi) is a “harder” ch sound. A practical approximation for many English speakers:
• č ≈ ch in chop (a bit sharper)
• ć ≈ a softer tch sound (closer to ty/ch blend)
  Also note po-če-ti is three syllables: po-če-ti.

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Could the sentence also be written with počet će as one unit? I’ve seen futures written like that.

Yes. Croatian can also form the future by attaching the clitic to the infinitive (common especially when the infinitive ends in -ti):

• Sastanak će uskoro početi.
• Sastanak će uskoro počet(i). → often written as Sastanak će uskoro počet će is not correct; instead it becomes Sastanak će uskoro početi or Sastanak će uskoro početI / Sastanak će uskoro počet
  • clitic attached: Sastanak će uskoro početI → standardly: Sastanak će uskoro početi or Sastanak će uskoro počet će is wrong. The proper “attached” version is:
• Sastanak će uskoro početi. (separate)
• Sastanak će uskoro početI → in practice: Sastanak će uskoro početi is the safest standard form; the attached clitic form is typically like Počet ću (I will start), Počet će (it will start), i.e. Počet će sastanak uskoro.

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How would I make this negative or a question?

Negative:

• Sastanak neće uskoro početi. = The meeting will not start soon.
  (ne + će → neće is a fixed contraction.)

Question:

• Hoće li sastanak uskoro početi? = Will the meeting start soon?
  Here li is the question particle, and hoće is used for “will” in questions.