Lončar može dokazati da je glina suha.

Because Croatian modal verbs usually take a bare infinitive.

• može = can / is able to
• dokazati = to prove

So može dokazati literally works like can prove in English.

Croatian does not use a separate word like English to in this structure. After moći (can), you normally just use the infinitive:

• Mogu doći. = I can come.
• Može govoriti. = He/She can speak.

So Lončar može dokazati... is the normal pattern.

Može is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb moći (to be able, can).

Here it matches lončar, which is singular:

• ja mogu = I can
• ti možeš = you can
• on/ona može = he/she can

Since lončar is one person, you use može.

Lončar is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the main clause.

The main clause is:

• Lončar može dokazati...

So lončar is the one doing the action of being able to prove.

Also, lončar is a masculine noun meaning potter.

Da introduces a subordinate clause, often equivalent to that in English.

So:

• dokazati da... = to prove that...

The clause after da is what is being proved:

• da je glina suha = that the clay is dry

This is a very common pattern in Croatian:

• Znam da je ovdje. = I know that he/she is here.
• Mislim da je to dobro. = I think that is good.

Because je is a clitic, and Croatian clitics usually go in the second position in their clause.

In the clause:

• da je glina suha

the conjunction da comes first, and the clitic je follows immediately after it. This is the normal and natural order.

So even though English would keep the subject before the verb (that the clay is dry), Croatian often places the clitic earlier:

• da je glina suha — natural
• da glina je suha — not standard word order here

This is one of the most important word-order habits to learn in Croatian.

Here je is the 3rd person singular present of biti (to be).

It belongs to the subordinate clause:

• glina je suha = the clay is dry

So in the full sentence:

• Lončar može dokazati da je glina suha.

the word je simply means is.

Do not confuse this with other short forms in Croatian; here it is clearly the verb to be.

Because it agrees with glina, which is a feminine singular noun.

Croatian adjectives must agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

So:

• glina = feminine singular
• suha = feminine singular form of suh (dry)

Compare:

• suh lonac = a dry potter's wheel/pot? actually lonac = pot, masculine
• suha glina = dry clay
• suho tlo = dry ground/soil, neuter

In this sentence, suha is nominative feminine singular because it describes glina.

Because glina is the subject of the subordinate clause:

• glina je suha = the clay is dry

In Croatian, the subject of a clause is usually in the nominative. Even though this whole clause is introduced by da, inside that clause glina is still the subject, so nominative is correct.

This is an aspect question.

• dokazati = perfective
• dokazivati = imperfective

In very broad terms:

• dokazati focuses on proving something successfully, as a completed result
• dokazivati focuses more on the process, repetition, or ongoing attempt to prove

In this sentence, dokazati makes sense because the idea is to prove something as a completed fact:

• Lončar može dokazati da je glina suha.

That suggests the potter can establish or demonstrate that fact.

If you used dokazivati, it would sound more like be proving / keep proving / try to prove, depending on context.

A learner may hear similar structures in the region, but in standard Croatian the preferred form here is:

• može dokazati

Using može da dokaže is much more associated with Serbian and some regional speech. In standard Croatian, modal verb + infinitive is the normal choice.

So for Croatian, this sentence is best as:

• Lončar može dokazati da je glina suha.

To some extent, yes, because Croatian word order is flexible. But not every change sounds equally neutral.

The given sentence is a normal, neutral version:

• Lončar može dokazati da je glina suha.

Possible changes may shift emphasis. For example, in the subordinate clause you might sometimes rearrange words for style or focus, but the clitic je still has to be in the right place.

The most important thing for a learner is:

• keep može dokazati together naturally
• keep da je at the start of the subordinate clause

So the original sentence is the safest model to follow.

No. Croatian has no articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• lončar can mean a potter or the potter
• glina can mean clay or the clay

Which one is meant depends on context.

This is normal in Croatian, so there is nothing missing from the sentence.

As an attributive adjective, yes, you can say:

• suha glina = dry clay

But in this sentence, suha is part of the predicate after je:

• glina je suha = the clay is dry

That is different from putting the adjective directly before the noun.

So:

• suha glina = adjective + noun phrase
• glina je suha = full clause with is dry

In your sentence, the second structure is needed because the clause expresses what is being proved.

No, here glina is being used as a mass/material noun, like clay in English.

That is why it refers to the substance, not to one separate object. Croatian often uses material nouns this way without any article or extra marker.

So the sentence is about the condition of the material:

• glina je suha = the clay is dry / clay is dry

It has two parts:

1. Main clause

   • Lončar može dokazati
   • The potter can prove

2. Subordinate clause introduced by da

   • da je glina suha
   • that the clay is dry

So the structure is:

• [subject] + [modal verb] + [infinitive] + da + [subordinate clause]

This is a very useful pattern in Croatian, and you will see it often with verbs like:

• znati = know
• misliti = think
• vidjeti = see
• dokazati = prove