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Ako mi se sutra bude pila samo voda, ponijet ću bocu sa sobom i preskočiti kavu.

Ako mi se sutra bude pila samo voda, ponijet ću bocu sa sobom i preskočiti kavu.
If tomorrow I feel like drinking only water, I’ll take a bottle with me and skip coffee.
FromLesson 84inHardcore Croatian

Questions & Answers about Ako mi se sutra bude pila samo voda, ponijet ću bocu sa sobom i preskočiti kavu.

What is bude pila, and why is it used after ako?

Bude pila is future II (also called the future exact).

In Croatian, when you have:

  • a future condition introduced by ako = if
  • and a future result in the main clause

the subordinate clause often uses future II, while the main clause uses future I.

So here:

  • Ako mi se sutra bude pila samo voda = If tomorrow I feel like drinking only water
  • ponijet ću bocu... = I’ll take a bottle...

The pattern is:

  • ako + future II
  • main clause + future I

Here, bude is the auxiliary, and pila is the past participle form that goes with it.

A simpler comparison:

  • Ako bude padala kiša, ostat ću doma.
    If it rains / if it is raining, I’ll stay home.

So bude pila is not random—it is the normal tense choice in this kind of future conditional sentence.

Does pila mean the speaker is female?

No. In this sentence, pila does not tell you the speaker’s gender.

It agrees with voda, which is a feminine singular noun.

That is why you get:

  • voda → feminine singular
  • pila → feminine singular

So the grammar is based on voda, not on the person speaking.

This is important because English speakers often see pila and think, Oh, that must mean a female speaker. But here it does not.

Why is it voda, not vodu?

Because in this construction, voda behaves like the grammatical subject, so it appears in the nominative.

Compare these:

  • Pijem vodu. = I am drinking water.
    Here vodu is a direct object, so it is accusative.

  • Pije mi se voda. = I feel like drinking water.
    Here voda is in the nominative.

That is because the Croatian pattern pije mi se X works differently from normal drink X.

So in your sentence:

  • Ako mi se sutra bude pila samo voda...

the noun you feel like drinking is voda, and it stays in the nominative.

What do mi and se mean in mi se bude pila?

They are both part of the Croatian structure that means to feel like doing something.

  • mi = to me (dative)
  • se = reflexive particle

So pije mi se literally looks something like it drinks itself to me, but that literal translation is not useful in English.

The real meaning is:

  • pije mi se = I feel like drinking
  • jede mi se = I feel like eating
  • spava mi se = I feel sleepy / I feel like sleeping

So in your sentence:

  • mi se bude pila voda = I will feel like drinking water

The important thing is to learn mi se + verb here as a pattern, not word-by-word.

Is piti se here a normal reflexive verb?

Not really in the usual sense.

This is one of those Croatian reflexive-style constructions where se is part of an idiomatic meaning. It does not mean that the subject is literally doing something to itself.

So:

  • piti = to drink
  • piti se komu / pije mi se = to feel like drinking

Similarly:

  • jesti = to eat
  • jede mi se = I feel like eating

So you should treat pije mi se, jede mi se, spava mi se, etc. as common patterns with their own meaning.

Why is it ponijet ću, not ponijeti ću?

Because in Croatian future I, when the auxiliary ću comes after the infinitive, the infinitive normally drops its final -i.

So:

  • ponijeti + ću → ponijet ću
  • vidjeti + ću → vidjet ću
  • raditi + ću → radit ću

This is the normal written form.

You can also form future I with the auxiliary before the infinitive, for example:

  • Ja ću ponijeti bocu.

But if the infinitive comes before ću, you normally get:

  • Ponijet ću bocu.

So ponijet ću is exactly what you should expect.

Why is there no second ću before preskočiti?

Because the same auxiliary ću applies to both verbs.

The sentence means:

  • ponijet ću bocu sa sobom
  • (ću) preskočiti kavu

Croatian often omits the repeated auxiliary when two infinitives share the same subject and the same future meaning.

So:

  • Ponijet ću bocu sa sobom i preskočiti kavu.

is perfectly natural and means:

  • I’ll take a bottle with me and skip coffee.

You could repeat the auxiliary, but it is usually unnecessary.

What does sa sobom mean here?

Sa sobom means with oneself, and in this sentence it corresponds to with me.

So:

  • ponijeti bocu sa sobom = to take a bottle with you / with oneself
  • in the first person context here: to take a bottle with me

This is a very common Croatian expression:

  • ponijeti nešto sa sobom = take something along / take something with you

So even though it literally contains sobom = oneself, the natural English meaning is simply with me here.

Why is it sa sobom, not s sobom?

Because sa is the pronunciation-friendly variant of s.

Croatian uses sa instead of s before certain sounds or clusters to make pronunciation easier. Since sobom starts with s, sa sobom sounds smoother than s sobom.

So:

  • sa sobom is the normal form here

This is similar to other cases where Croatian slightly changes a short word for easier pronunciation.

Why is kavu in the accusative?

Because kavu is the direct object of preskočiti.

  • preskočiti kavu = to skip coffee

That is a normal verb + object pattern, so the noun goes into the accusative:

This is different from voda earlier in the sentence, because voda appears inside the special pije mi se construction, where the noun is nominative.

So the contrast is:

  • voda = nominative, because of the pije mi se pattern
  • kavu = accusative, because it is a regular direct object of preskočiti
Can sutra go somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and sutra can move.

For example, you could also hear things like:

  • Ako se mi bude sutra pila samo voda...
  • Ako mi se bude pila samo voda sutra...

But the original version:

  • Ako mi se sutra bude pila samo voda...

sounds natural and clear.

Its position helps keep the sentence easy to process:

  • Ako sets up the condition
  • mi se gives the experiencer pattern
  • sutra adds the time
  • bude pila samo voda completes the idea

So other word orders may be possible, but this one is a very normal choice.

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