Nemamo svijeću niti svjetiljku.

Because imati (to have) is special in the present tense: its negative forms are normally written as one word:

• nemam = I don’t have
• nemaš = you don’t have
• nema = he/she/it doesn’t have
• nemamo = we don’t have
• nemate = you don’t have
• nemaju = they don’t have

With many other verbs, ne is written separately, but with present-tense imati, learners should memorize these fused forms.

Nemamo is:

• 1st person plural
• present tense
• of imati (to have)
• in the negative

So it means we do not have.

They are in the accusative singular, because they are the direct objects of the verb nemamo.

The dictionary forms are:

• svijeća = candle
• svjetiljka = lamp / light / flashlight, depending on context

For many feminine nouns ending in -a, the accusative singular ends in -u:

• svijeća → svijeću
• svjetiljka → svjetiljku

So this is a very common pattern in Croatian.

In normal modern Croatian, the direct object here stays in the accusative, even though the verb is negative:

• Imamo svijeću. = We have a candle.
• Nemamo svijeću. = We don’t have a candle.

You may sometimes hear about genitive with negation in Slavic languages, but for a learner, the safe and standard choice in a sentence like this is the accusative.

Here niti means nor.

So the structure is:

• Nemamo svijeću niti svjetiljku.
• literally: We don’t have a candle nor a lamp/flashlight.

In natural English, this is often translated as We have neither a candle nor a flashlight or We don’t have a candle or a flashlight.

Yes — and that is very common.

Both are correct:

• Nemamo svijeću niti svjetiljku.
• Nemamo ni svijeću ni svjetiljku.

The second version, with ni ... ni ..., is often felt to be a little more everyday and explicit: neither ... nor ...

The version with niti is also correct, and can sound slightly more formal or written, depending on context.

Because Croatian usually prefers a negative connector like ni or niti in this kind of sentence.

Compare:

• svijeću i svjetiljku = a candle and a flashlight
• ni svijeću ni svjetiljku = neither a candle nor a flashlight
• svijeću niti svjetiljku = a candle nor a flashlight

Using i after a negative verb is not the most natural way to express this idea. English often says not X or Y, but Croatian commonly uses ni / niti.

No, not in this simple sentence.

Niti is just linking two objects, so you write:

• Nemamo svijeću niti svjetiljku.

No comma is needed.

Because Croatian does not have articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• svijeću can mean a candle or the candle
• svjetiljku can mean a flashlight/lamp or the flashlight/lamp

Context tells you which meaning is intended. In negative sentences like this, English often uses a or any, but Croatian simply uses the noun without an article.

The dictionary forms are:

• svijeća = candle
• svjetiljka = lamp, lantern, flashlight, light source depending on context

This is important because Croatian dictionaries list nouns in the nominative singular, not in forms like svijeću or svjetiljku.

A few pronunciation points often help learners:

• svijeću contains ije, which is part of the normal spelling pattern in Croatian
• ć is a soft sound, somewhat like a very soft ch or ty sound
• svjetiljku contains lj, which is a single sound, similar to the lli sound in million for many English speakers

So the tricky parts here are mostly:

• ć in svijeću
• lj in svjetiljku

Those are very common Croatian sounds, so this sentence is good pronunciation practice.

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English, but the original sentence is the most neutral and natural:

• Nemamo svijeću niti svjetiljku.

You can change the order for emphasis, but that sounds less neutral. For a learner, the best thing is to keep this standard pattern:

• negative verb first
• then the objects

So this sentence is a good model to copy.