Learn Hardcore Croatian: Upoznat ćemo se na maloj zabavi u njihovom stanu. - We will meet at a small party in their apartment.

Upoznat ćemo se
- This is the most neutral, natural way to say we will meet / we will get to know each other.
- Structure:
  - upoznat – short form of the future of upoznati (perfective verb)
  - ćemo – auxiliary for we will
  - se – reflexive pronoun
Mi ćemo se upoznati
- Also correct, but the mi adds emphasis on we (as opposed to someone else).
- It sounds a bit more contrastive: We will meet (not someone else / at some later point etc.)
- Word order: subject (mi) + auxiliary (ćemo) + clitic se
  - infinitive upoznati.

Croatian future tense allows both patterns:

Upoznat ćemo se sutra.
Mi ćemo se upoznati sutra.

The version in your sentence is just the most common neutral word order in speech.

What does se do in Upoznat ćemo se?

Se is a reflexive pronoun. In upoznati se, it turns the verb upoznati (to get to know / to make someone get to know) into a reciprocal action:

upoznati nekoga – to meet / get to know someone
upoznati se – to meet each other, to get to know each other

So Upoznat ćemo se literally means We will get to know ourselves, but idiomatically We will (get to) meet each other.

Without se, the sentence would mean We will meet (get to know) someone, and you’d need an object:

Upoznat ćemo ga. – We will meet him.
Upoznat ćemo ih. – We will meet them.

Why is it na maloj zabavi and not na mala zabava?

Because on a small party here is in the locative case, and the adjective and noun must both appear in the same case, gender, and number.

zabava – feminine, singular
After na with the meaning at / during (an event), Croatian uses locative:
- Feminine singular locative of zabava → zabavi
- Feminine singular locative of mala → maloj

So:

Nominative: mala zabava – a small party (as subject)
Locative: na maloj zabavi – at a small party

That’s why mala zabava changes to maloj zabavi after na in this meaning.

Why do we say na zabavi and not u zabavi?

In Croatian, the choice between na and u is mostly fixed by usage, not purely spatial logic.

na zabavi – at a party is the standard phrase.
zabava is treated like an event / occasion; many events take na:
- na koncertu – at a concert
- na sastanku – at a meeting
- na ručku – at lunch
- na svadbi – at a wedding

U zabavi would be understood literally as inside the fun and is not used in this context; it sounds wrong as a location phrase.

So you should memorize na zabavi as the natural preposition + case combination for at a party.

What case is zabavi in, and why do we use that case after na here?

Zabavi is in the locative singular.

The preposition na can take:

Accusative – when it means onto / to (movement):
- Idemo na zabavu. – We are going (to) the party.
Locative – when it means on / at (location, no movement):
- Smo na zabavi. – We are at the party.
- Upoznat ćemo se na zabavi. – We will meet at the party.

In your sentence, the party is just the place where the action happens, not a destination you’re moving to at that moment, so na takes locative → zabavi.

What case is u njihovom stanu, and why is it njihovom stanu instead of njihov stan?

U njihovom stanu is locative singular.

u with the meaning in / inside (location) normally takes locative:
- u stanu – in the apartment
- u gradu – in the city
- u školi – in the school
stan is masculine singular; locative of stan is stanu:
- Nominative: stan – (the) apartment
- Locative: (u) stanu – (in the) apartment
njihovom is the masculine singular locative form of the possessive adjective njihov (their):
- Nominative: njihov stan – their apartment
- Locative: u njihovom stanu – in their apartment

Adjective and noun must match in gender, number, and case:

masc. sg. locative: njihovom stanu
(like velikom stanu, novom stanu)

How does njihov / njihovom change with gender? What would it be with a feminine noun?

Njihov is a possessive adjective meaning their, and it declines like a normal adjective.

In your sentence:

stan – masculine
masculine locative singular → u njihovom stanu

For a feminine noun in locative, you’d use the -oj ending:

kuća (house), feminine:
- Nominative: njihova kuća – their house
- Locative: u njihovoj kući – in their house

For neuter nouns, locative singular looks like masculine:

selo (village), neuter:
- Nominative: njihovo selo – their village
- Locative: u njihovom selu – in their village

So:

Masculine sg. loc.: u njihovom stanu
Feminine sg. loc.: u njihovoj kući
Neuter sg. loc.: u njihovom selu

What is the nuance of upoznati se compared to sresti se or naći se?

These three verbs are all translated as to meet, but they differ in nuance:

upoznati se (s nekim)
- Focus: getting to know someone for the first time.
- Used when people are introduced or meet properly, often as strangers before.
- Upoznat ćemo se na zabavi. – We’ll meet (get to know each other) at the party.
sresti se
- Focus: to run into each other / to meet (by chance or as an event).
- Not necessarily the first time:
  - Sutra ću se sresti s njim. – I’ll meet him tomorrow.
  - Sreo sam ga na ulici. – I ran into him on the street.
naći se
- Very common colloquial verb meaning to meet up / to get together (usually planned).
- Naći ćemo se u gradu. – We’ll meet up in town.

So in your sentence, upoznati se is appropriate because it suggests you don’t know each other yet and will become acquainted at that party.

Could we change the word order, for example: Na maloj zabavi u njihovom stanu ćemo se upoznati? Does it sound natural?

Yes, that word order is possible and grammatical, but it slightly changes the rhythm and emphasis.

Some options:

Upoznat ćemo se na maloj zabavi u njihovom stanu.
- Neutral, very natural. Focus is on the event (we will meet) and then you add where.
Na maloj zabavi u njihovom stanu upoznat ćemo se.
- Starts with the setting; you emphasize where this will happen.
Na maloj zabavi u njihovom stanu ćemo se upoznati.
- Grammatically okay, but placing ćemo (a clitic) away from the verb upoznati is less natural.
- Standard Croatian prefers to keep clitics (like ćemo, se) in certain central positions and not too far from the verb.

Best natural choices are (1) and (2). The original sentence is stylistically the most neutral.

Is Upoznat ćemo written as one word or two? How is it pronounced?

In standard Croatian orthography, it is written as two words:

upoznat ćemo

Spelling:

upoznat – shortened infinitive stem of upoznati used before ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će in the future tense
ćemo – auxiliary for we will

Pronunciation:

It’s often pronounced very smoothly, almost as if it were one unit:
u-po-zna-ćemo
The t at the end of upoznat and the ć of ćemo meet, and you may barely hear the t; it blends into ć.

So you write two words (upoznat ćemo), but in everyday speech it flows almost like one.

Could Croatian use the present tense here instead of the future, like English sometimes does (“We meet at a small party...”)?

Normally, no—not in this exact context.

English often uses the present simple for scheduled future events:

We meet tomorrow at 5.

In Croatian, that kind of future plan is usually expressed with the future tense, especially when you’re talking about a single anticipated event:

Upoznat ćemo se sutra. – We will meet tomorrow.

Using the present:

Upoznajemo se sutra. would sound odd or wrong in most contexts; it suggests something like we are (in the process of) getting to know each other tomorrow, which doesn’t work naturally.

There are situations where Croatian uses present for future (e.g. timetables: Vlak polazi u pet. – The train leaves at five.), but upoznati se for a first-time meeting is normally future: Upoznat ćemo se...