Breakdown of Kad dođu gosti, poslužit ćemo im palačinke s borovnicama.
s
with
im
them (dative short form)
kad
when
htjeti
will
Questions & Answers about Kad dođu gosti, poslužit ćemo im palačinke s borovnicama.
Why is dođu in the present tense if the sentence talks about the future?
In Croatian, after time words like kad (when), a future event is often expressed with the present tense of a perfective verb.
So kad dođu gosti literally looks like when the guests come, but it naturally means when the guests arrive in the future.
This is very normal in Croatian:
- Kad dođe, javit ću ti. = When he comes, I’ll let you know.
- Kad završimo, idemo kući. = When we finish, we’re going home.
So the future meaning comes from:
- kad = a future time point
- dođu = perfective present, often used for a completed future action in subordinate clauses
What exactly is dođu?