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Kad mi se spava, ne pije mi se kava nego voda.

Kad mi se spava, ne pije mi se kava nego voda.
When I feel sleepy, I don’t feel like drinking coffee, but water.
FromLesson 57inHardcore Croatian

Questions & Answers about Kad mi se spava, ne pije mi se kava nego voda.

Why does Croatian say mi se spava instead of something like ja sam pospan(a)?

Mi se spava is a very common Croatian way to express a physical feeling or urge. It means something like I feel sleepy or I feel like sleeping.

It is not built the same way as English. Instead of making I the grammatical subject, Croatian uses an impersonal pattern:

  • mi = to me
  • se = part of the construction
  • spava = sleep in a default 3rd person singular form

So the idea is closer to sleep is coming to me than to I am sleepy.

You can also say Ja sam pospan / pospana, but that is a more straightforward adjective-based description: I am sleepy.
Spava mi se often feels a bit more like I’m getting sleepy / I feel like sleeping.

Why are spava and pije in 3rd person singular, not spavam and pijem?

Because this is an impersonal construction.

In spava mi se and pije mi se, Croatian does not treat I as the subject in the normal way. That is why the verb does not appear as spavam or pijem.

Compare:

  • Spavam. = I am sleeping.
  • Spava mi se. = I feel like sleeping / I’m sleepy.

And:

  • Pijem kavu. = I am drinking coffee.
  • Pije mi se kava. = I feel like drinking coffee.

So the 3rd person singular form is normal here.

What case is mi here?

Mi is the dative singular form of ja.

Here it marks the experiencer: the person who feels sleepy or feels like drinking something.

So:

  • mi se spava = I feel sleepy
    literally, something like to me, sleep comes
  • mi se pije kava = I feel like drinking coffee

This dative use is very common in Croatian for feelings, urges, and states that happen to someone.

What does se do in this sentence? Is it reflexive?

In this sentence, se is not reflexive in the simple English sense of myself.

It is part of a common Croatian pattern used for desires, urges, and bodily states:

  • jede mi se = I feel like eating
  • pije mi se = I feel like drinking
  • spava mi se = I feel like sleeping / I’m sleepy
  • pleše mi se = I feel like dancing

So you usually should not try to translate se word for word here. It is just part of the structure.

Why is the order mi se, not se mi?

Because Croatian clitics follow a fairly fixed order, and mi normally comes before se.

So you get:

  • spava mi se
  • pije mi se
  • ne pije mi se kava

This order is something learners mostly have to get used to. It is not random.

A useful rule of thumb is: in this kind of expression, memorize the pattern as a chunk:

  • mi se
  • ti se
  • mu se
  • joj se
  • nam se
  • vam se
  • im se
Why are kava and voda in the forms kava and voda, not kavu and vodu?

Because in this construction, the thing wanted or felt like is often in the nominative, not the accusative.

So:

  • Pijem kavu. = normal verb + direct object, so kavu is accusative
  • Pije mi se kava. = impersonal feel-like construction, so kava is nominative

The same idea applies here:

  • ne pije mi se kava nego voda

Both kava and voda are nominative.

To an English speaker, this feels strange at first, because English does not show the difference clearly. But in Croatian, this construction behaves differently from a normal transitive verb.

Why does the sentence use nego instead of ali?

Because nego is used when the second element replaces or corrects what was denied in the first part.

So:

  • ne ... nego ... = not ... but rather ...

Here the idea is:

  • not coffee, but water

That is exactly the job of nego.

By contrast, ali is a more general but, used for contrast:

  • Htio sam doći, ali nisam mogao. = I wanted to come, but I couldn't.

In your sentence, voda is not just contrasting with kava; it is replacing it. That is why nego is the natural choice.

Is something omitted after voda?

Yes. Croatian is leaving out repeated material because it is already understood.

The full idea would be something like:

  • Kad mi se spava, ne pije mi se kava nego mi se pije voda.

But that sounds repetitive, so Croatian usually shortens it to:

  • Kad mi se spava, ne pije mi se kava nego voda.

English does the same kind of thing:

  • not coffee but water

So voda stands in for the fuller idea mi se pije voda.

Why is kad used with the present tense here?

Because Croatian often uses kad + present to talk about something that happens whenever a situation occurs.

So here:

  • Kad mi se spava... = When / Whenever I’m sleepy...

This is a general or habitual statement, not just one single event.

So the sentence means something like:

  • Whenever I feel sleepy, I don’t feel like coffee but water.

This use of the present tense is very normal in Croatian.

Could I also say Kad sam pospan(a), ...?

Yes, absolutely.

  • Kad mi se spava... = When I feel sleepy / when I feel like sleeping
  • Kad sam pospan / pospana... = When I am sleepy

These are close in meaning, but not identical in feel.

Kad mi se spava sounds a bit more like a state coming over you or an urge to sleep.
Kad sam pospan(a) is a more direct description using an adjective.

Both are natural.

Should there be a comma before nego?

In careful writing, many speakers would write:

  • Kad mi se spava, ne pije mi se kava, nego voda.

That comma before nego is common because nego introduces a contrast/correction.

However, in informal writing people sometimes omit it, especially in short, speech-like sentences. So if you see the version without the comma, it is not surprising.

If you want to be safer in formal writing, use the comma before nego.

What is the most literal word-for-word structure of the whole sentence?

A rough literal breakdown is:

  • Kad = when
  • mi = to me
  • se = part of the impersonal pattern
  • spava = sleep
  • ne = not
  • pije = drinks / is drunk
  • mi = to me
  • se = part of the same pattern
  • kava = coffee
  • nego = but rather
  • voda = water

So very literally, the structure is something like:

  • When sleep comes to me, coffee is not drink-desired to me, but rather water.

That sounds unnatural in English, of course, but it helps show how Croatian is built here.

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