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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 51 For Days: Approximate Periods, Repeons and References 295 / 600

51 For Days: Approximate Periods, Repetions and

References

There are two very frequent words used to express approximate duration of some

state or action:

dugo for a long time

kratko for a short time

While English uses both for a long time and long in different sentences (e.g. long is

used in questions), Croatian uses only one word in all kinds of sentences. The words

can be placed at any position, but they are often found at the first position. For

example:

Dugo smo gledali filmove A . We watched movies for a long time.

Kratko je padala kiša N . It rained for a short time.

It’s possible to modify the meaning, using adverbs of intensity (except for malo); you

can also use other intensifiers, such as stvarno really and užasno / strašno terribly:

Jako dugo sam čitao knjigu A . I was reading the book for a very long time.

Stvarno dugo učim hrvatski A . I’ve been learning Croatian for a really long time.

Then, the instrumental case can be used to express time, when something lasted for

days, for years, and also that something happens on Tuesdays.

Simply put, when something was going on for days, you should use instrumental

plural. You will find the following words useful:

dan day

godina year

mjesec month

sat (N-pl sati) hour

tjedan (tjedn-) ® week

For example:

Čitao sam knjigu A tjednima I . I was reading the book for weeks.

Čekao sam te A satima I . I was waiting for you for hours.

Both sentences mean the action or state is over now, that is, you are no longer

reading the book or waiting.

If you want to say that something happens on Fridays, that is, repeats, you should

use weekdays in instrumental singular:

Petkom I igramo nogomet A . We play football on Fridays. ®

Vikendom I idemo u kino A . We go to cinema on weekends. ®

The word vikend weekend is of course not a day of week, but has a similar role.

Rough time periods in I-pl can be also used with the verb trajati (traje) last:

Predavanje N je trajalo satima I . The lecture lasted for hours.

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