Time
In a Nutshell
Telling the time : In official contexts, such as railway timetables, the 24-hour clock is used. Examples, dva sata i pet minuta (02:05), dvadeset sati i pedeset pet minuta (20:55).
In most everyday circumstances a different system is used.
jedan (sat) i pet (minuta) - 1:05
pet (sati) i dvadeset pet (minuta) - 5:25
dvadeset pet do jedan - 25 to 1
petnaest do dva - quarter to 2
četvrt do dva / deset do tri - 10 to 3
The words for hours and minutes are usually omitted.
After jedan the word for hour is in the nominative (sat), after dva, tri and četiri in genitive singular
(sata) and after the other numbers in the genitive plural (sati). The word for
minute is minuta.
Alternative ways of expressing half past the hour:
4:30 (četiri i pol), 9:30 (devet i pol), 11:30 (pola dvanaest)
Minutes to the hour:
dvadeset pet do osam (25 min to 8),
petnaest do deset, deset do jedanaest
What time is it?
Koliko je sada sati ? - What time is it now?
Imate li točno vrijeme? - Have you got the right time?
To state the time simply put Sada je... in front of the time:
| Sada je jedan sat. | It is now one o'clock. | |
| Sad je tri i petnaest. | It is now quarter past three. | |
| Sada je šest i pol. | It is now half past six. | |
| Sada je pola sedam. | It is now half past six. | |
| Sada je deset do dvanaest. | It is now ten to twelve. |
To give an approximate time add oko:
| Sada je oko šest. | It's about six (It's sixish..) | |
| Sada je oko pola jedanaest. | It's about half ten. |
At what time?
U koliko sati.. - At what time..
To say at what time.. put u before the time
| u pet sati | at 5 o'clock. | |
| u šest i pol | at six thirty | |
| u deset do dvanaest | at ten to twelve | |
| u dvanaest | at twelve o'clock |
To give an approximate time, again use oko, but without u:
| oko osam sati | at about eight o'clock | |
| oko tri i dvadeset | at about twenty past three | |
| oko petnaest do pet | at about quarter to five |
To say from..to.. use od..do..
| od pest do šest | from five to six o'clock | |
| od petnaest do sedam | from quarter to seven | |
| do osam sati | to eight o'clock |
Divisions of the day
| jutro | morning | večer | evening |
| jutros | this morning | večeras | this morning |
| ujutro | in the morning | uvečer (or navečer) | in the evening |
| prije podne | morning | poslije podne | afternoon |
| dan | day | noč | night |
| danas | today | noćas | tonight |
| danju | during the day | noću | at night |
| podne (u podne) | noon | ponoć(u ponoć) | midnight |
po podne is often used instead of poslije podne
The following are approximate times:
| jutro | 6am to 10am |
| dan | 10am to 6pm |
| večer | 6pm to 12pm |
| noć | 12pm to 6am |
The divisions of the day are used to clarify time by the clock:
| osam sati ujutro | eight o'clock in the morning | |
| deset sati i prije podne | nine o'clock in the morning | |
| u četiri poslije podne | at four in the afternoon | |
| u šest i pol večeras | at half past six this evening |
You can add to these divisions of the day with the following
| prekjučer | day before yesterday | sutra | tomorrow |
| jučer | yesterday | prekosutra | day after tomorrow |
| sinoć | last night |
| u šest sati sutra ujutro | at six o'clock tomorrow morning |
| u sedam i petnaest sinoć | at quarter past seven last night |
| oko tri poslije podne | at about three in the afternoon |
| prekjučer | the day before yesterday |
Periods of time
Jedan dan ima dvadeset cetiri sata, jedan tjedan ima sedam dana, jedan mjesec ima cetiri tjedna, jedna godina ima dvanaest mjeseci ili tristo sezdeset pet dana.
dan - day, sat - hour (irreg. G. pl. sati), tjedan - week, mjesec - month (irreg. G. pl. mjeseci), godina - year
Dates
NB The names of the days of the week and months are not capitalised.
Daysof the week (Sunday is counted as the first day):
| nedjelja | Sunday | četvrtak | Thursday |
| ponedjeljak | Monday | petak | Friday |
| utorak | Tuesday | subota | Saturday |
| srijeda | Wednesday |
To say every, use the genitive case with the adjective
svaki (every):
svakog ponedjeljka - every Monday
svake subote - every Saturday
Sometimes the accusative case is used with dan: vaki dan.)
To say on Tuesdays, etc. simply use the word in the instrumental ase (singular)
utorkom - on Tuesdays
četvrtkom - on Thursdays
To say on a day use the preposition u followed by the name of the day
in the accusative case
u utorak - on Tuesday
u subotu - on Saturday
The word for week is tjdan and for weekly is tjedno.
Months : While the Latin names are used throughout the region, Croatian has Slavonic ones which are now the norm:
| januar | siječanj | juli | srpanj |
| februar | veljača | august | kolovoz |
| mart | ožujak | septembar | rujan |
| april | travanj | oktobar | listopad |
| maj | svibanj | novembar | studeni |
| juni | lipanj | decembar | prosinac |
Koji je danas datum - What is the date today?
Danas je ponedjeljak, prvi siječanj / januar - Today is Monday, 1 January
To say in a month use u followed by the name of the month in the
Locative case:
u siječnju - in January
u veljači - in February
The word studeni is an adjective in form: u studenom - in November
The word for month is mjesec and for monthly is mjesečno.
There is a futher, less frequent, possibility: using the ordinal numberals for the appropriate month: Danas je ponedjeljak prvi prvoga.
Seasons
| proljeće | spring | u prolječe | in spring |
| jesen | autumn | u jesen | in autumn |
| ljeto | summer | ljeti | in summer |
| zima | winter | zimi | in winter |
Expressions of Time
'On Monday', etc is expressed by u + accusative: u ponedjeljak, u srijedu. Other dates on which an event occurs are expressed by the genitive:
Stigli smo četvrtog kolovoza (augusta) - We arrived on 4 August.
Moja kći ima rodendan drugog septembra (rujna) - My daughter's birthday is 2 September.
Other expressions of time follow a similar pattern:
| Slijedećeg dana su ustali jako rano | They got up very early (on) the next day. |
| Tog tjedna sam zaista zaposlen | I'm really busy that week. |
| Te godine će biti velika proslava | There will be a great celebration that year. |
Duration of time is generally expressed by the accusative:
| Pokušavam te dobiti telefonom cijeli dan | I've been trying to get you on the phone all day. |
| Provest ćemo mjesec dana u Zagrebu | We shall spend a month in Zagreb. |
| Oni su stanovali godinu ana u ulici do naše, a nismo ih upoznali |
They lived in the next street to ours for a year, but we didn't meet them. |
Habitual events, occurring on specific days of the week, are expressed by the instrumental:
| Subotom uvijek nekuda idemo u šetnju | We always go somewhere for a walk on Saturdays. |
| Obično idu u klub utorkom | They usually go to the club on Tuesdays. |