Ako sutra ostane losos, ponijet ću ga na posao za ručak.

tomorrow

Breakdown of Ako sutra ostane losos, ponijet ću ga na posao za ručak.

• posao: work
• htjeti: will
• za: for

Questions & Answers about Ako sutra ostane losos, ponijet ću ga na posao za ručak.

Why is ostane in the present tense if the sentence is about tomorrow?

Because Croatian normally uses the present tense after ako for future conditions.

So Croatian says:

• Ako sutra ostane losos, ...

not:

• Ako sutra će ostati losos, ...

This works a lot like English:

• If there’s salmon left tomorrow, I’ll take it...
• not If there will be salmon left...

The future meaning is already understood from ako plus sutra, so the verb in the if-clause stays in the present.

What exactly is ostane?

Ostane is the 3rd person singular present form of ostati, meaning to remain, to stay, or to be left over.

Here it means something like:

• if salmon is left over
• if some salmon remains

The subject is losos, so ostane is singular.

Why is the verb ostane perfective? Why not ostaje?