Learn Hardcore Croatian: On više voli čaj nego kavu.

Because both čaj and kavu are direct objects of voli, and direct objects are in the accusative. Masculine inanimate nouns like čaj have the same nominative and accusative (so it stays čaj), while feminine -a nouns like kava change to kavu in the accusative. After nego, keep the same case you would use without the comparison: think of it as “…voli čaj, (voli) kavu.”

Why doesn’t čaj change form like kava?

It’s a gender-and-declension thing. Čaj is masculine inanimate, whose accusative singular equals the nominative: čaj. Kava is feminine; its accusative singular ends in -u: kavu.

Can I drop the subject On?

Yes. Croatian is a pro‑drop language; the verb ending shows person/number. Više voli čaj nego kavu is perfectly natural if the subject is clear from context.

Where can I put više? Are there word-order alternatives?

Yes, and word order shifts the focus slightly:

Neutral: On više voli čaj nego kavu.
Also fine: On voli čaj više nego kavu.
With dropped subject: Više voli čaj nego kavu.
Focus on the tea: On čaj više voli nego kavu. Avoid the less idiomatic On voli više čaj nego kavu.

Do I have to use nego here? What about od or više od?

Use nego with verbal preference: više (voli) X nego Y. Use od after comparative adjectives (e.g., veći od brata) and više od for quantities (e.g., više od pet). So not: ✗ više voli X od Y; say: ✓ više voli X nego Y.

How do I say “as much as” instead of “more than”?

Use kao:

On voli čaj kao (i) kavu.
More explicit: On voli čaj jednako kao kavu.

How do I say he drinks more tea than coffee (quantity, not preference)?

Use više as a quantifier and the genitive of measure:

On pije više čaja nego kave. Here čaja/kave are genitive singular.

What’s the difference between više voli and radije?

više voli = “likes more” (stative preference): On više voli čaj nego kavu.
radije = “would rather / prefers to” (tendency/choice): On radije pije čaj nego kavu. You can also say elliptically: Radije čaj nego kavu. Both are natural; radije is especially common with action verbs.

Is nego always “than”? I’ve seen it mean “but rather.”

Two uses:

Comparative “than”: više voli čaj nego kavu.
Corrective “not X but rather Y” after negation: Ne kavu, nego čaj. With clauses you’ll see nego što/nego da: Više voli čaj nego što priznaje.

What happens under negation?

“No longer”: place više before ne: On više ne voli čaj.
“Not … more than …”: On ne voli čaj više nego kavu. Objects typically remain in the accusative under negation in modern Croatian (genitive after negation also exists but is less common in everyday use).

Do cases have to match on both sides of nego?

Yes. Use the same case you would if you repeated the verb/preposition:

Our verb voli takes the accusative, so: čaj (acc.) … kavu (acc.). A good check: expand the ellipsis: … voli čaj (voli kavu). If you would say voli kavu, use kavu after nego.

How do I conjugate voljeti?

Present:

ja volim
ti voliš
on/ona/ono voli
mi volimo
vi volite
oni/one/ona vole Past: volio (m), voljela (f). Future: voljet ću (the clitic comes after the shortened infinitive). Serbian/Ekavian uses voleti.

Are there regional differences I should know about in this sentence?

Yes. Croatian standard uses kava and voljeti: On više voli čaj nego kavu. Serbian uses kafa and voleti: On više voli čaj nego kafu. The structure with nego is the same.

Pronunciation tips for tricky letters?

č as in English “ch” (tʃ): čaj ~ “chai.”
š as in “sh”: više.
j as English “y”: čaj sounds like “chai.”
v is close to English v, a bit softer between v/w; don’t worry—English v works fine.

Can I replace the nouns with pronouns?

Yes, but note two things:

After nego, use the stressed pronouns (not clitics): njega, nju, njih.
With inanimate nouns it’s usually clearer to repeat the noun: On ga više voli nego kavu is grammatical if ga = “čaj,” but clearer is On više voli čaj nego kavu. For people: On više voli njega nego nju.

Is any punctuation needed?

No comma in the comparative: On više voli čaj nego kavu. Use a comma in the corrective pattern: Ne kavu, nego čaj.

Can I say On više voli čaj nego što voli kavu?

Yes. nego što plus a full clause is correct and a bit more formal or emphatic: On više voli čaj nego što voli kavu. The shorter version without repeating the verb is more common in speech.

Is više no acceptable?

Yes; no is a stylistic/literary variant of nego in comparisons: više no = više nego. It’s rarer in everyday speech.