Learn Hardcore Croatian: Kad pada snijeg, djeca se igraju u parku. - When snow is falling, the children play in the park.

Kad and kada mean the same thing; kad is just a shorter, more colloquial form.
You can say either:
- Kad pada snijeg, djeca se igraju u parku.
- Kada pada snijeg, djeca se igraju u parku.
Both are correct; kada can sound a bit more formal or emphatic, but in everyday speech kad is extremely common.

Why is there a comma in Kad pada snijeg, djeca se igraju u parku?

Croatian normally uses a comma between a subordinate clause and the main clause.

Kad pada snijeg = “when it is snowing” (subordinate temporal clause)
djeca se igraju u parku = “the children play in the park” (main clause)

So the comma separates these two parts, just like in English:
When it’s snowing, the children play in the park.

Why is it pada snijeg and not snijeg pada?

Both word orders are grammatically possible:

Kad pada snijeg
Kad snijeg pada

The difference is nuance and style:

Kad pada snijeg is the most neutral and natural here. Croatian often puts the verb first in weather expressions (pada kiša, puše vjetar, grmi, etc.).
Kad snijeg pada is also correct, but it slightly emphasizes snijeg (“the snow”) more.

In many contexts, you can freely switch them without changing the basic meaning.

In English we say “When it snows”. Why is there no “it” in Kad pada snijeg?

Croatian does not use a dummy subject like English “it” for weather.

English: It snows.
Croatian: Snijeg pada (literally “snow falls”) or Pada snijeg.

The subject is the actual thing (snow, rain, wind, etc.), so no extra pronoun is needed.

What tense is pada and why isn’t there a separate “is” (like “is snowing”)?

Pada is present tense, 3rd person singular of padati (“to fall”).

Croatian doesn’t have a special “continuous” form like English “is snowing” vs “snows”. The simple present covers both:

Pada snijeg.
- Can mean “It is snowing (now).”
- Or, in context, “It snows (when X happens / in winter, etc.).”

In this sentence, the present tense in both clauses expresses a habitual situation:

Kad pada snijeg – whenever it snows
djeca se igraju u parku – the children (typically) play in the park

What exactly does djeca mean, and is it singular or plural?

Djeca means “children” and it behaves as grammatically plural.

The singular is dijete = “child”.
Plural: djeca = “children”.

Even though djeca doesn’t look like a typical plural, verbs and adjectives agree with it in the plural:

djeca se igraju – children play
dobra djeca – good children

Why do we say djeca se igraju, and what does se do here?

Igrati se is a reflexive verb meaning “to play (for fun, to amuse oneself)”.

igrati (without se) often means “to play (a game, an instrument, a role)” in a more transitive sense.
- igrati nogomet – to play football
- igrati violinu – to play the violin
igrati se focuses on play as an activity for one’s own enjoyment: “to play (around), to be playing”.

The se is the reflexive particle and is part of the dictionary form of the verb: igrati se.

djeca se igraju – the children are playing
If you remove se, it sounds incomplete or like they are “playing something” (but that something is missing).

Why is it djeca se igraju and not djeca igraju se? Is the position of se fixed?

In Croatian, se (the reflexive particle) usually comes very early in the clause, generally as the second element (following the “second-position” clitic rule).

So you normally say:

Djeca se igraju. (standard)

You may hear Djeca igraju se in some regional speech or for emphasis, but in standard language:

Put se right after the first word (subject/connector/particle) in the clause:
- Kad pada snijeg, djeca se igraju u parku.
- U parku se djeca igraju.
- Djeca se uvijek igraju u parku.

What form is u parku, and why not u park?

U parku is locative case, meaning “in the park”.

park – nominative (dictionary form)
u parku – locative singular (after the preposition u = “in / at”)

You need the locative form after u when it indicates location (where something is):

u školi – in (the) school
u kući – in (the) house
u parku – in (the) park

U park would use the accusative and normally implies movement into the park (“into the park”), not being already there.

Could you say na parku instead of u parku?

No, not in standard Croatian for this meaning.

u parku = in the park, inside or within the park area (correct here).
na is used more for surfaces or certain set phrases:
- na plaži – on the beach
- na stolu – on the table
- na igralištu – on the playground

For playing in a park, you would normally use u parku.

Is the word order fixed, or can I move parts of the sentence around?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible. All of these are grammatically correct and natural, with small differences in emphasis:

Kad pada snijeg, djeca se igraju u parku.
Djeca se igraju u parku kad pada snijeg.
Kad pada snijeg, u parku se djeca igraju. (slight emphasis on “in the park”)

The meaning stays essentially the same: whenever it snows, the children play in the park. The main thing is to keep the clitic se in a natural early position.

How do you pronounce djeca and snijeg?

Approximate pronunciations:

djeca: [dje-t͡sa]
- dj is a single palatal sound, similar to the “j” in “jeans” but softer and more “dy”-like.
- Stress is on the first syllable: DJE-ca.
snijeg: [sɲeg] or roughly “snyeg”
- nj is like the “ny” in “canyon” or Spanish ñ.
- One syllable, with the “i” indicating the palatal quality of n, not a separate syllable.

Does this sentence mean a single event, or something that usually happens?

Because both verbs are in the simple present, the most natural reading is habitual:

Whenever it snows, the children (tend to) play in the park.

It could also describe something happening right now if the context makes that clear (e.g. you see snow and kids currently playing), but on its own it usually suggests a repeated, typical situation.