Ne mogu dugo sjediti u uredu.

I can’t sit in the office for a long time.

Breakdown of Ne mogu dugo sjediti u uredu.

• ne: not
• u: in
• moći: to be able to
• sjediti: to sit

Questions & Answers about Ne mogu dugo sjediti u uredu.

Why are there two verbs in Ne mogu dugo sjediti u uredu?

Because mogu is a modal verb meaning I can, and sjediti is the main verb meaning to sit.

So the structure is:

• ne mogu = I cannot / I can’t
• sjediti = to sit

This is very similar to English:

• I can sit
• I can’t sit

After a modal verb in Croatian, the next verb is usually in the infinitive:

• Mogu doći. = I can come.
• Ne mogu spavati. = I can’t sleep.
• Ne mogu dugo sjediti. = I can’t sit for long.

Why is it ne mogu and not one single word?

In Croatian, the negative particle ne is usually written separately from the verb:

• ne mogu = I cannot
• ne znam = I do not know
• ne radim = I am not working / I do not work

So ne mogu is the normal spelling.

English learners sometimes expect one word because English has cannot, but Croatian does not work that way here.