Što mogu učiniti sada?

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• Što = what
• mogu = I can / am able to
• učiniti = to do, to make happen, to perform
• sada = now

So the structure is literally something like What can I do now?

Što is a very common Croatian question word meaning what.

In this sentence, it introduces a direct question:

• Što mogu učiniti sada? = What can I do now?

You may also see šta in some regional varieties or in more informal speech, especially outside standard Croatian. In standard Croatian, što is the safest choice to learn and use.

Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form.

Here, mogu already tells you the subject is I:

• mogu = I can

So:

• Što mogu učiniti sada? is natural.
• Što ja mogu učiniti sada? is also possible, but ja adds emphasis, like What can I do now?

This is very common in Croatian. Unlike English, you do not need to say the subject every time.

In Croatian, verbs change form depending on the subject. This means one word can express both the action and the subject.

The verb here is moći = to be able to / can.

Its present-tense forms include:

• mogu = I can
• možeš = you can
• može = he/she/it can
• možemo = we can
• možete = you (plural/formal) can
• mogu = they can

So mogu by itself already means I can or they can, and the context tells you which one is meant. In this sentence, it clearly means I can.

Because after mogu (I can), Croatian normally uses the infinitive of the main verb.

So:

• mogu učiniti = I can do
• literally, I can to do

This is similar to many Croatian verb combinations:

• želim učiniti = I want to do
• moram učiniti = I must do
• mogu učiniti = I can do

The infinitive form here is učiniti.

This is a very common learner question.

• učiniti often means to do, to carry out, to accomplish, to make happen
• napraviti often means to make, to create, to produce, though it can also mean to do
• raditi often means to work or to do in a more general/process sense

In Što mogu učiniti sada?, učiniti sounds natural because the speaker is asking what action they can take right now.

Compare:

• Što mogu učiniti sada? = What can I do now? / What action can I take now?
• Što mogu napraviti sada? = also possible, but can sometimes sound a bit more like make depending on context
• Što mogu raditi sada? = What can I be doing now? / What can I do now as an activity?

So učiniti is a very good choice when talking about a concrete action or step.

Mogu is present tense.

But with verbs like can, present tense often refers to a current possibility:

• Što mogu učiniti sada? = What can I do now?

So even though the verb is grammatically present, the whole sentence is about what action is possible at this moment.

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral and most straightforward version is:

• Što mogu učiniti sada?

But you may also hear:

• Što sada mogu učiniti?
• Sada, što mogu učiniti?

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly.

For example:

• Što mogu učiniti sada? = neutral
• Što sada mogu učiniti? = slightly stronger focus on now
• Sada, što mogu učiniti? = more conversational, like pausing before the question

As a learner, the original order is a very natural one to use.

No. Sada and sad both mean now.

• sada is a bit fuller and often feels slightly more neutral or careful
• sad is extremely common in everyday speech

So you may hear:

• Što mogu učiniti sada?
• Što mogu učiniti sad?

Both are correct and natural.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Što ≈ shto
• mogu ≈ MOH-goo
• učiniti ≈ oo-CHEE-nee-tee
• sada ≈ SAH-dah

A few helpful pronunciation notes:

• š sounds like sh in shoe
• č sounds roughly like ch in chocolate
• ć is a softer sound than č, but many beginners first learn it as a softer kind of ch
• Croatian words are usually pronounced quite clearly and phonemically, much more consistently than English spelling

So a learner-friendly approximation would be:

Shto MOH-goo oo-CHEE-nee-tee SAH-dah?

Yes. Učiniti is related to činiti.

• činiti = to do, to make
• učiniti = often to do, to accomplish, to get done, sometimes with a sense of completion

This is part of a very important Croatian pattern: many verbs come in aspect pairs.

Very roughly:

• činiti is imperfective: focuses on the process, repetition, or duration
• učiniti is perfective: focuses on a completed action or one whole act

In this sentence, učiniti is natural because the speaker is asking about a concrete action they can take.

Yes, you should use the question mark here.

Croatian forms many questions using question words like:

• što = what
• tko = who
• gdje = where
• kada = when
• zašto = why
• kako = how

Because Što already marks this as a question, the structure is clear, and the ? is used just as in English:

• Što mogu učiniti sada?

So in writing, the punctuation works very much the way you would expect.