Komu si poslala poruku kad si vidjela nevrijeme na obali?

Komu means to whom and it is in the dative case.

The basic question word is tko = who. But after the verb poslati in the sense of send something to someone, the person receiving the message goes in the dative:

• poslati poruku komu = to send a message to someone

So:

• Tko? = who?
• Komu? / Kome? = to whom?

That is why the sentence begins with Komu si poslala poruku...? = To whom did you send a message...?

Yes. Komu and kome both mean to whom.

In modern everyday Croatian, kome is generally more common in speech, while komu may sound a bit more literary, formal, or regional depending on context. In this sentence, both are correct:

• Komu si poslala poruku...?
• Kome si poslala poruku...?

A learner should recognize both.

This is because si is a clitic in Croatian. Clitics are short unstressed words that usually come in the second position of the clause.

In this question, the first element is Komu, so the clitic si comes right after it:

• Komu si poslala poruku...?

This is a very common Croatian pattern.

Compare:

• Jučer sam poslala poruku. = Yesterday I sent a message.
• Komu si poslala poruku? = To whom did you send a message?

You may also hear different word orders in real speech, but Komu si poslala... is the standard pattern learners should know.

Si is the 2nd person singular form of the auxiliary verb biti (to be) used to form the past tense.

Croatian past tense is often made like this:

• auxiliary sam / si / je / smo / ste / su
• • the past participle

So here:

• si poslala = you sent
• si vidjela = you saw

Because Croatian usually drops subject pronouns when they are clear, si already tells us the subject is you (singular).

Poslala is the feminine singular past participle.

Croatian past participles agree with the subject’s gender and number. Since the sentence is addressing a female person, it uses:

• poslala = sent (feminine singular)
• vidjela = saw (feminine singular)

If you were speaking to a man, you would say:

• Komu si poslao poruku kad si vidio nevrijeme na obali?

So the sentence tells us that the you being addressed is female.

Because poruku is the accusative singular of poruka.

The noun poruka means message. In this sentence it is the direct object of poslala:

• poslati poruku = to send a message

So the forms are:

• poruka = nominative singular
• poruku = accusative singular

This is a very common pattern with feminine nouns ending in -a:

• knjiga → knjigu
• poruka → poruku

Vidjela is the feminine singular past participle of vidjeti = to see.

Just like poslala, it agrees with the person being addressed:

• si vidjela = you saw (to a woman)

If speaking to a man, it would be:

• si vidio = you saw (to a man)

So both verbs in the sentence show feminine agreement:

• poslala
• vidjela

Because Croatian often omits subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

In English, you must say:

• you sent
• you saw

In Croatian, the auxiliary si already shows the subject is you (singular), so adding ti is usually unnecessary.

The sentence could include ti for emphasis, but normally it is left out:

• Komu si poslala poruku...? = normal
• Komu si ti poslala poruku...? = more emphatic, like To whom did you send a message?

Kad means when here. Yes, it is basically the same as kada.

• kad = shorter, very common in speech and writing
• kada = full form, sometimes a bit more formal or careful

So these are both possible:

• ...kad si vidjela nevrijeme na obali
• ...kada si vidjela nevrijeme na obali

Both mean when you saw the storm/bad weather on the coast.

Nevrijeme usually means bad weather, a storm, or stormy weather.

It is stronger than just vrijeme (weather). Depending on context, it can suggest:

• a storm
• severe weather
• rough weather conditions

So in this sentence, kad si vidjela nevrijeme na obali suggests that the speaker saw serious or threatening weather on the coast.

Because na obali expresses location, not motion.

Croatian uses na with different cases depending on meaning:

• na + locative = on / at a place
• na + accusative = onto / to a place, with movement toward it

Here the meaning is on the coast / at the coast, so it is a location:

• na obali = on the coast

If there were movement toward the coast, you might get a different structure, for example:

• otišla je na obalu = she went to the coast / shore

So in this sentence, na obali is correct because the bad weather is being seen there, as a location.

Obali is the locative singular of obala = coast, shore.

After na meaning location, Croatian commonly uses the locative:

• na stolu = on the table
• na moru = at sea / on the sea
• na obali = on the coast

So:

• obala = nominative
• obali = locative singular

The sentence is in the past tense.

Both verb phrases are built with:

• the auxiliary si
• • a past participle

So:

• si poslala = you sent
• si vidjela = you saw

Croatian calls this the perfect tense, and it is the normal way to talk about past events in everyday language.

Because there are two separate past-tense clauses, and each one needs its own auxiliary.

Main clause:

• Komu si poslala poruku = To whom did you send a message

Subordinate clause:

• kad si vidjela nevrijeme na obali = when you saw bad weather on the coast

Each clause has its own verb, so each past verb form gets its own auxiliary:

• si poslala
• si vidjela

The word order can vary somewhat in Croatian, but the given order is very natural.

This version is standard and clear:

• Komu si poslala poruku kad si vidjela nevrijeme na obali?

Croatian allows some flexibility for emphasis, but not every rearrangement sounds equally natural. For learners, it is best to keep this pattern:

1. question word first
2. clitic second
3. verb and object after that

So this sentence is a good model to follow.

Poslala comes from poslati = to send.

Yes, poslati is perfective, which fits well here because the sentence refers to a completed action: the message was sent.

A common imperfective partner is:

• slati = to be sending / to send repeatedly

Compare:

• Poslala si poruku. = You sent a message.
• Slala si poruke. = You were sending messages / You used to send messages.

In this sentence, poslala is natural because it asks about one completed act of sending.

Yes, but some forms would have to change.

To a man, you would say:

• Komu si poslao poruku kad si vidio nevrijeme na obali?

The changes are:

• poslala → poslao
• vidjela → vidio

Those are the masculine singular past participles.

So the original sentence specifically addresses a woman.