Breakdown of Ako joj ga večeras pošalješ, odgovor će ti dati već sutra ujutro.
Questions & Answers about Ako joj ga večeras pošalješ, odgovor će ti dati već sutra ujutro.
Why is pošalješ in a present form after ako? Shouldn’t it be future?
In Croatian, after ako for a real future condition, you normally use the present, not a future form.
So:
- Ako joj ga večeras pošalješ = If you send it to her this evening
- not usually Ako ćeš joj ga poslati...
Here pošalješ is a present form, but because the verb is perfective, it refers to a single completed action in the future. This is very common in Croatian.
What is the difference between pošalješ and šalješ?
This is a matter of aspect.
- pošalješ comes from poslati and is perfective
- šalješ comes from slati and is imperfective
Very roughly:
- pošalješ = send once / send off / complete the sending
- šalješ = are sending / send habitually / send over a period of time
In this sentence, the perfective verb fits because the meaning is: first you complete one action of sending, then she gives you an answer.
What do joj, ga, and ti mean?
They are all short unstressed pronouns called clitics.
- joj = to her (dative)
- ga = him or it (accusative/genitive clitic; here it means it)
- ti = to you (dative)
So the sentence structure is basically:
- Ako joj ga večeras pošalješ = If you send it to her this evening
- odgovor će ti dati = she will give you an answer
Why is it joj ga and not ga joj?
Because Croatian clitics have a fairly fixed order.
When both appear together here, the dative pronoun normally comes before the accusative pronoun:
- joj ga = to her it
- not ga joj
So even though English says send it to her, Croatian uses the clitic order to her it.
What exactly can ga refer to?
Ga is the short form for a masculine or neuter singular object, depending on the noun it stands for.
So it can mean:
- him
- it
For example:
- dokument → ga
- pismo → ga
In your sentence, it is understood as it, because the meaning has already been established in context.
Why is it odgovor će ti dati? Is odgovor the object?
Yes. Odgovor is the direct object of dati.
Literally, that part is:
- odgovor = an answer
- će dati = will give
- ti = to you
So: will give you an answer
Croatian word order is flexible, and here odgovor is placed first in the clause. That helps the clitics će ti sit in their normal second position, and it also gives a little emphasis to answer.
Why is the future written as će dati? Could it be dati će?
Standard Croatian forms the future with the clitic forms of htjeti plus the infinitive.
Here you have:
- će dati = will give
Because će is a clitic, it normally comes after the first stressed word or phrase in the clause. In this sentence, that is odgovor, so you get:
- Odgovor će ti dati
If the infinitive itself comes before će, standard Croatian usually drops the final -i:
- Dat će ti odgovor
So dati će is generally not the standard written form.
What case is odgovor here? It looks the same as the dictionary form.
It is accusative singular, but for many masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks exactly the same as the nominative singular.
So:
- nominative: odgovor
- accusative: odgovor
You know it is accusative here because it is the direct object of dati.
What does već mean here?
Here već means something like:
- already
- as early as
- by then already
So:
- već sutra ujutro = already tomorrow morning / as early as tomorrow morning
It adds the nuance that the answer will come surprisingly soon or sooner than expected.
Why are večeras and sutra ujutro used without prepositions?
Because Croatian often uses time adverbs directly, without needing a preposition.
- večeras = this evening / tonight
- sutra = tomorrow
- ujutro = in the morning
So:
- sutra ujutro = tomorrow morning
This is perfectly normal Croatian.
Why is there no word for she in the second clause?
Croatian often leaves subject pronouns out when they are clear from context. This is called pro-drop.
So instead of saying:
- Ona će ti dati odgovor
Croatian can simply say:
- Odgovor će ti dati
The subject she is understood from the situation and the meaning already provided.
Can the word order be changed?
Yes, to some extent. Croatian word order is flexible, but clitics are much less flexible.
For example, these are possible with different emphasis:
- Ako joj ga pošalješ večeras, odgovor će ti dati već sutra ujutro.
- Ako joj ga večeras pošalješ, dat će ti odgovor već sutra ujutro.
- Ona će ti dati odgovor već sutra ujutro.
But you cannot freely scramble the clitics:
- joj ga is fine
- ga joj is not the normal order here
So the main thing is:
- content words can move around more
- clitics follow stricter rules
Could Croatian also use odgovoriti instead of dati odgovor?
Yes. A very natural alternative would be:
- Ako joj ga večeras pošalješ, odgovorit će ti već sutra ujutro.
That means essentially the same thing: If you send it to her this evening, she’ll answer you as early as tomorrow morning.
The version with dati odgovor literally means give an answer, which is also perfectly normal Croatian. It can sound a little more explicit or slightly more formal depending on context.
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