Kome pišeš poruku?

Kome means to whom / who ... to in this sentence.

Croatian often uses case endings instead of prepositions like to. Here, kome is in the dative case, which commonly marks the recipient of something.

So instead of saying something like to who are you writing a message?, Croatian simply says:

Kome pišeš poruku?
literally: Whom-DATIVE are you writing a message?

Tko is the basic dictionary form meaning who.

But in this sentence, who is not the subject. It means to whom, so Croatian changes the form of the pronoun to match its grammatical role.

For tko, some important forms are:

• tko = who
• koga = whom / of whom
• kome = to whom
• kim(e) = with whom

So kome is used because the person is the indirect object / recipient.

Poruku is in the accusative singular.

The noun is:

• poruka = message

In this sentence, the message is the direct object — it is the thing being written. Feminine nouns like poruka often change from -a to -u in the accusative singular:

• nominative: poruka
• accusative: poruku

So:

• pišeš poruku = you are writing a message

Pišeš is the 2nd person singular present tense of pisati (to write).

So it means:

• you write
• you are writing

Croatian present tense can often cover both the simple present and the present continuous, depending on context.

Some forms of pisati are:

• pišem = I write / am writing
• pišeš = you write / are writing
• piše = he/she/it writes
• pišemo = we write
• pišete = you plural/formal write
• pišu = they write

Because Croatian verb forms already show who the subject is.

The ending -eš in pišeš tells you the subject is you singular. So a separate pronoun ti is usually unnecessary.

You could say:

• Ti kome pišeš poruku?

but that adds emphasis, like You, who are you writing a message to?

Normally, just pišeš is enough.

No, Croatian word order is relatively flexible because case endings show the grammatical roles.

Kome pišeš poruku? is the most neutral and natural order.

You may also hear:

• Poruku kome pišeš?
• Pišeš poruku kome?

But these can sound more marked, more conversational, or more focused on a particular word.

For a learner, Kome pišeš poruku? is the best standard pattern to remember.

It can often work as either, depending on context.

Literally, it is To whom are you writing a message?

But in modern everyday use, pisati poruku often means to write/send a text message, so the sentence may naturally be understood as:

• Who are you texting?
• Who are you sending a message to?

The exact English translation depends on the situation.

Yes. Komu is also a correct dative form of tko.

So both are possible:

• Kome pišeš poruku?
• Komu pišeš poruku?

In everyday modern Croatian, kome is more common and usually sounds more natural in speech.

Because Croatian often expresses this idea with the dative case alone.

English needs the preposition to:

• to whom
• to him
• to Ana

Croatian usually does not:

• kome = to whom
• njemu = to him
• Ani = to Ana

So Croatian says:

• Pišem Ani poruku. = I’m writing Ana a message / I’m writing a message to Ana.

The relationship is shown by the case ending, not by a separate preposition.

Yes, it is a very common combination.

• pisati = to write
• poruka = message

Together, pisati poruku means to write a message, and in everyday usage it often strongly suggests a text message or chat message.

Other similar expressions include:

• pisati e-mail = to write an email
• pisati pismo = to write a letter

So this sentence uses a very normal, common pattern.

You would change the verb form from pišeš to pišete.

• Kome pišeš poruku? = to one person, informal
• Kome pišete poruku? = to several people, or to one person formally

The rest of the sentence stays the same.