Kad dođu gosti, narezat ću kruh i sir.

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Breakdown of Kad dođu gosti, narezat ću kruh i sir.

• kad: when
• kruh: bread
• sir: cheese

Questions & Answers about Kad dođu gosti, narezat ću kruh i sir.

What does kad mean here, and is it different from kada?

Kad means when. It is the shorter, very common form of kada.

In this sentence, kad dođu gosti means when the guests arrive.

The difference between kad and kada is usually just style:

• kad = shorter, very common in everyday speech
• kada = a bit fuller, sometimes slightly more formal or emphatic

In most situations, they mean the same thing.

Why is dođu in the present tense if the meaning is future?

This is very normal in Croatian.

After time words like kad meaning when, Croatian often uses the present tense of a perfective verb to talk about a future event that will happen before the main action.

So:

• Kad dođu gosti = When the guests arrive
• not literally When the guests are arriving

This is actually similar to English, which also says When the guests arrive, not When the guests will arrive.

Could I say Kad će gosti doći instead?