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Learn Hardcore Croatian: Utisnite uzorak u glinu. - Press the pattern into the clay.

Hardcore Croatian
/Making pottery with friends at a workshop
/Utisnite uzorak u glinu.

Utisnite uzorak u glinu.

Word

Utisnite uzorak u glinu.

Meaning

Press the pattern into the clay.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Croatian

Lesson

Making pottery with friends at a workshop

Breakdown of Utisnite uzorak u glinu.

Questions & Answers about Utisnite uzorak u glinu.

What form is utisnite?

Utisnite is the imperative form of the verb utisnuti.

In this sentence, it means something like press! / imprint! as an instruction or command.

More specifically, it is the:

2nd person plural imperative: when speaking to more than one person
or the polite/formal singular imperative: when speaking politely to one person

So it can mean:

you all, press...
or please press... to one person

Why does utisnite end in -te?

The ending -te is the normal Croatian imperative ending for you plural and formal you.

Compare:

utisni = say it to one person informally
utisnite = say it to several people, or to one person politely

This is very common in Croatian instructions, manuals, recipes, classroom language, and formal directions.

What case is uzorak, and why does it look unchanged?

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Uzorak is in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of the verb utisnite.

It looks the same as the nominative because uzorak is a masculine inanimate noun. In Croatian, masculine inanimate nouns often have:

nominative singular = uzorak
accusative singular = uzorak

So even though the form does not change, the function does:

nominative: the subject
accusative: the direct object

Why is it u glinu and not u glini?

Because u can take different cases depending on meaning.

Here, u glinu uses the accusative because it expresses movement into something.

So:

u glinu = into the clay
u glini = in the clay

This is a very important Croatian pattern:

u + accusative = direction, movement, change of position
u + locative = location, being inside something

In this sentence, the pattern is being pressed into the clay, so accusative is required.

What case is glinu?

Glinu is the accusative singular of glina.

The noun is:

glina = nominative singular
glinu = accusative singular

Since glina is a feminine noun ending in -a, its accusative singular usually changes -a to -u.

This is a very common feminine pattern:

voda → vodu
kuća → kuću
glina → glinu

What exactly does uzorak mean here?

Uzorak is a flexible word. Depending on context, it can mean:

pattern
design
sample
model

In this sentence, it most naturally means pattern or design, especially something being impressed into a soft material like clay.

So the exact English word depends on the situation, but the Croatian word itself is perfectly normal here.

Why is there no word for the or a in Croatian?

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

So Croatian simply says:

uzorak
glinu

and the listener understands from context whether that means:

a pattern
the pattern
clay
the clay

English speakers often notice this early, because English requires an article much more often than Croatian does.

Why is the verb perfective here?

Utisnuti is a perfective verb. Perfective verbs in Croatian usually present an action as:

complete
finished
achieving a result

That fits this sentence well, because the instruction is about getting a result: the pattern should end up pressed into the clay.

A rough contrast would be:

utisnite = press it in, complete the action
an imperfective form would sound more like ongoing or repeated pressing

In instructions, Croatian often prefers the perfective when the goal is a completed action.

Can the word order change?

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

The sentence Utisnite uzorak u glinu is natural and clear, especially for an instruction.

But other orders are also possible, for example:

Uzorak utisnite u glinu.

That version puts more emphasis on uzorak.

Even though word order can change, Croatian still sounds most natural when the order matches the emphasis the speaker wants. In neutral instructions, starting with the imperative verb is very common.

How do I pronounce Utisnite uzorak u glinu?

A simple approximate pronunciation for an English speaker is:

oo-TEES-nee-teh OO-zo-rak oo GLEE-noo

A few helpful points:

u is like oo in food
i is like ee in see
e is like e in bed, but often a bit cleaner and shorter
g in glinu is always a hard g
Croatian pronunciation is generally more phonetic than English: words are usually pronounced much closer to how they are spelled

How would I say this to one person informally?

You would say:

Utisni uzorak u glinu.

That is the singular informal imperative.

So the contrast is:

Utisni = to one person informally
Utisnite = to several people, or to one person formally/politely

This distinction is very useful in everyday Croatian.

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