Learn Hardcore Croatian: U mojoj obitelji svatko uči hrvatski drugačije. - In my family everyone learns Croatian differently.

The base forms are:
- moja obitelj = my family (nominative, basic dictionary form)
After u (in, where?), moja obitelj must change to locative:
- u mojoj obitelji = in my family

Both the adjective moja and the noun obitelj change:

moja → mojoj (feminine singular locative)
obitelj → obitelji (feminine singular locative)

So U mojoj obitelji is the grammatically correct form for In my family.

Is obitelji singular or plural here? It ends in -i, so I’m confused.

In this sentence obitelji is singular, not plural.

Obitelj is a feminine noun that behaves a bit unusually:

obitelj – nominative singular (family)
obitelji – genitive/dative/locative singular
obitelji – nominative plural (families)
obitelji – genitive plural (of families), etc.

So obitelji can be both singular (certain cases) and plural (certain cases).
Here, because of u + where?, it’s locative singular: (u) obitelji = in the family.

Could I say U mojoj familiji instead of U mojoj obitelji?

You can, but it sounds less standard.

obitelj is the normal, neutral, standard Croatian word for family.
familija exists and is understood, but:
- feels more colloquial or slangy in many contexts,
- is used more in some regions or informal speech.

For a textbook-style or neutral sentence, U mojoj obitelji is the best choice.

What is the difference between svatko, svaki, and svi?

They’re related but not interchangeable:

svatko = everyone / everybody, each person
- It’s a pronoun (stands on its own).
- It always takes a singular verb:
  - Svatko uči. – Everyone is learning.
svaki = every / each
- It’s an adjective, so it must go before a noun and agree with it:
  - svaki čovjek – every man
  - svaka osoba – every person
  - svako dijete – every child
svi = all (people)
- It’s a plural pronoun, so it takes a plural verb:
  - Svi uče. – All (of them) are learning.

In your sentence, svatko fits best, because we mean each individual person in the family, with a singular verb:
Svatko uči hrvatski… = Everyone learns Croatian…

Why is the verb uči and not something like uči je or uči se?

The verb is učiti = to learn / to study (imperfective).
Uči is its 3rd person singular present form:

ja učim – I learn / I am learning
ti učiš – you learn
on/ona/ono uči – he/she/it learns
mi učimo – we learn
vi učite – you (pl) learn
oni/one/ona uče – they learn

You don’t need je or se here:

uči hrvatski literally = learns Croatian
- hrvatski is the direct object (what is being learned).

Reflexive se is used with učiti se in some fixed expressions (e.g. učiti se plivati – to learn to swim), but učiti hrvatski is perfectly normal and very common.

In English we say “is learning”. Why is there no “is” in Croatian?

Croatian doesn’t have a special progressive form like English “is learning”.

The simple present covers both:

Svatko uči hrvatski.
- can mean Everyone learns Croatian (habitually)
- or Everyone is learning Croatian (right now), depending on context.

So you don’t say “je učeći” or anything like that.
Just use the present tense: uči.

Why does the sentence use just hrvatski and not hrvatski jezik?

Hrvatski is originally an adjective meaning Croatian (relating to Croatia).
However, in everyday language, Croatians very often use the adjective on its own to mean the Croatian language:

učim hrvatski – I’m learning Croatian (the language)
pričaš li hrvatski? – Do you speak Croatian?

You can absolutely say hrvatski jezik:

Svatko uči hrvatski jezik drugačije.

That’s also correct, just slightly more formal or explicit.
But hrvatski alone is the most common way to refer to the language.

What case is hrvatski in, and why does it look like the basic form?

Grammatically, hrvatski here is accusative masculine singular, because it is the direct object of uči (learns what?).

For masculine inanimate adjectives and nouns, the nominative and accusative forms are identical:

nominative: hrvatski (language) – subject
accusative: učim hrvatski – object

So even though hrvatski looks like the dictionary form, in this sentence it’s in the accusative.

Why is it drugačije and not drugačiji?

Because here we need an adverb, not an adjective.

drugačiji – adjective = different (describes a noun)
- drugačiji čovjek – a different man
- drugačija metoda – a different method
drugačije – adverb = differently (describes how an action is done)
- uči drugačije – (he/she) learns differently

In the sentence, drugačije tells us how everyone learns, so it must be the adverb form: drugačije, not drugačiji.

Are drugačije and različito the same in this context?

Practically, yes. Both can mean “differently” here:

Svatko uči hrvatski drugačije.
Svatko uči hrvatski različito.

Both sound natural and mean that each person’s way of learning is not the same as the others’.

Very subtle nuances:

drugačije – literally “in another way”, “differently”
različito – literally “in a varied / diverse way”, “differently”

In everyday speech they’re largely interchangeable in this kind of sentence.

Can I change the word order, like Svatko u mojoj obitelji drugačije uči hrvatski?

Yes. Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and all of these are grammatical:

U mojoj obitelji svatko uči hrvatski drugačije.
Svatko u mojoj obitelji uči hrvatski drugačije.
Svatko u mojoj obitelji drugačije uči hrvatski.

The basic meaning stays the same. Changes in order mostly affect emphasis:

Starting with U mojoj obitelji highlights “in my family (as opposed to elsewhere)”.
Starting with Svatko highlights “everyone / each person”.
Putting drugačije before uči can subtly stress the manner of learning.

For a learner, any of the above versions is fine and natural.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “In our family everyone learns Croatian differently”?

You only need to change the possessive adjective:

U mojoj obitelji svatko uči hrvatski drugačije.
→ In my family everyone learns Croatian differently.
U našoj obitelji svatko uči hrvatski drugačije.
→ In our family everyone learns Croatian differently.

The pattern:

moja → mojoj (locative)
naša → našoj (locative)

So:

u mojoj obitelji – in my family
u našoj obitelji – in our family