Learn Croatian: Svako zrno je pažljivo odabrano. - Every bean is carefully chosen.

In English, we use "bean" for both coffee and vegetables. In Croatian, grah is strictly for the legume (like baked beans or kidney beans). For things like coffee, cocoa, or wheat, Croatian uses zrno, which literally means "grain" or "seed" (for example, zrno kave means "coffee bean").

Why does the sentence use svako instead of the dictionary form svaki?

The word svaki (every) behaves like an adjective and must match the gender, number, and case of the noun it describes. Because zrno is a neuter singular noun in the nominative case, the pronoun takes its neuter singular form, svako.

How does the word odabrano work in this sentence?

Odabrano is a passive participle (a verb form that acts like an adjective) created from the verb odabrati (to choose). Together with the helper verb je, it forms the passive voice ("is chosen"). Just like svako, it ends in -o to agree with the neuter subject zrno.

Could I use izabrano instead of odabrano here?