Questions & Answers about Jutros sam se probudila rano zbog kiše.
Why does the sentence start with jutros? What exactly does jutros mean?
Jutros means this morning and refers specifically to the morning of today.
It is different from ujutro, which usually means in the morning more generally.
- Jutros sam se probudila rano. = I woke up early this morning.
- Obično se budim rano ujutro. = I usually wake up early in the morning.
So in your sentence, jutros sets the time right away.
Why is sam in second position?
Sam is a clitic form of biti and Croatian clitics usually go in second position in the sentence, after the first stressed word or phrase.
So:
- Jutros sam se probudila... is natural.
- You normally would not begin the sentence with sam.
This is a very common Croatian word-order rule. English speakers often expect a more fixed order, but Croatian is more flexible, especially with clitics.
Why is se used with probudila?