Breakdown of U hodniku vise jakne, a u dnevnom boravku gledamo televiziju.
Questions & Answers about U hodniku vise jakne, a u dnevnom boravku gledamo televiziju.
U means in.
It’s a preposition that requires the locative case when it describes a static location (no movement).
- hodnik (hallway) → u hodniku (in the hallway) – locative singular
- dnevni boravak (living room) → u dnevnom boravku (in the living room) – locative singular
So u + locative answers “where?” (location), not “where to?” (direction).
Both are grammatically correct. Croatian word order is quite flexible.
- U hodniku vise jakne puts more focus on the place (in the hallway is where jackets are hanging).
- Jakne vise u hodniku puts more focus on the jackets and then adds where they’re hanging.
In neutral, descriptive sentences, starting with the place (u hodniku) is very common, especially when describing a scene.
Vise here is the 3rd person plural present tense of the verb visjeti / visiti = to hang.
- infinitive: visjeti or visiti (both exist, depending on dialect/variant)
- 3rd person plural: oni vise = they are hanging
This is not the same as više (with š), which means more.
Spelling and pronunciation are different:
- vise → /ʋise/ (s like in see)
- više → /ʋiʃe/ (š like sh in she)
Croatian often does not use a separate word like “there are”.
The verb itself (vise = are hanging) plus the noun is enough:
- Vise jakne. = (There) are jackets hanging.
If you wanted to emphasize pure existence/location without the idea of hanging, you might use biti (to be):
U hodniku su jakne. = There are jackets in the hallway.
But in the original sentence, the important information is the action/state of hanging, so vise is used.
Jakne is nominative plural of jakna (jacket).
- jakna – one jacket
- jakne – jackets
It’s in the nominative because jakne is the grammatical subject of the verb vise:
(Što?) Jakne (što rade?) vise. → (What?) Jackets (do what?) hang.
Dnevni boravak is literally daily stay, the usual term for living room.
- Base (nominative): dnevni boravak
- With u in a static location: u dnevnom boravku
The adjective dnevni and the noun boravak both change in the locative case:
- dnevni → dnevnom
- boravak → boravku
So u dnevnom boravku = in the living room (locative).
In Croatian you usually omit the subject pronoun because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.
- gledam – I watch
- gledaš – you (sg) watch
- gleda – he/she/it watches
- gledamo – we watch
- gledate – you (pl) watch
- gledaju – they watch
So gledamo televiziju naturally means we are watching TV, and mi is optional:
Mi gledamo televiziju is possible, but usually only used for emphasis (e.g. we are watching TV, not someone else).
Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:
- gledamo televiziju – we are watching television (programs/content)
- gledamo televizor – we are looking at the TV set (the device)
In everyday speech, when you mean watch TV as an activity, you normally say gledamo televiziju.
Televiziju is accusative singular of televizija (television).
The direct object of a verb in Croatian is typically in the accusative:
- gledamo (što?) televiziju – we watch (what?) television
So televiziju is the object of gledamo.
In … vise jakne, a u dnevnom boravku gledamo televiziju, the a links two clauses and usually implies contrast or a mild shift.
- i = and (simply adds things, same direction)
- a = and / while / whereas, often with contrast or change of scene/topic
- ali = but (stronger contrast, opposition)
So a here is like saying:
In the hallway jackets are hanging, and (meanwhile/whereas) in the living room we’re watching TV.
Croatian has no articles (no direct equivalents of the, a, an, some).
Whether you understand jakne as jackets, the jackets, or some jackets depends on context, not on a specific word.
Similarly, gledamo televiziju can be translated as we are watching TV / we are watching the TV, depending on what sounds natural in English.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:
- U hodniku su jakne. – There are jackets in the hallway. (focus on existence/location)
- U hodniku vise jakne. – Jackets are hanging in the hallway. (focus on how they are positioned – hanging)
Both are correct; the original sentence wants to describe the state of hanging, so vise is chosen.
Yes, that is grammatically correct:
- U dnevnom boravku gledamo televiziju.
- Gledamo televiziju u dnevnom boravku.
Both mean We are watching TV in the living room.
The first version slightly emphasizes the location first; the second emphasizes the activity first, but the difference is subtle in normal conversation.