Learn Hardcore Croatian: Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure, čaše, noževe i vilice. - As soon as the guests are no longer at the party, we wash the plates, glasses, knives and forks.

Kad / Kada gosti nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure…
This is more general “when(ever) the guests are not at the party…”, and doesn’t stress the immediate sequence as strongly. You could use kad in many contexts where English uses simply when.

So:

čim → strong idea of immediate succession (“as soon as”)
kad / kada → neutral when (point in time or repeated situation)

Why is the verb peremo in the present tense, when in English we would say “we will wash”?

In Croatian, after certain time conjunctions like čim, kad, kada, dok, prije nego (što), nakon što, the present tense is normally used even when the meaning is future.

So:

Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure…
literally: As soon as the guests are no longer at the party, we wash the plates…
meaning: As soon as the guests are no longer at the party, we’ll wash the plates…

In English you need “will” in that second part, but in Croatian it’s just a present tense with future meaning in this kind of time clause.

You could say:

Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, oprat ćemo tanjure…
(= we will wash the plates),
but that’s already a slightly different choice of aspect (see below) and style; the original sounds natural and habitual.

What is the role of više in gosti više nisu? Why not just gosti nisu na zabavi?

Više here means “any more / any longer / no longer”. The combination ne… više often translates as “no longer”.

gosti nisu na zabavi
= the guests are not at the party (a simple statement)
gosti više nisu na zabavi
= the guests are no longer at the party (they used to be there, but now they aren’t)

So više adds the meaning of a change of state or end of a situation.

Can I change the order više nisu to nisu više, and does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say both:

gosti više nisu na zabavi
gosti nisu više na zabavi

Both are grammatically correct and both can mean “the guests are no longer at the party.”

The difference is mostly about rhythm and slight emphasis:

više nisu sounds a bit more neutral and is very common in the fixed pattern ne… više (“no longer”).
nisu više can slightly emphasize the verb nisu (are not), but the meaning is effectively the same in most contexts.

For a learner, you can treat them as equivalent; you’ll naturally feel the nuance over time.

Why is gosti in that form and not goste? What case is it?

Gosti is nominative plural of gost (guest).

gost – nominative singular (subject: the guest)
gosti – nominative plural (subject: the guests)

In the sentence:

Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi…
gosti is the subject of the verb nisu, so it must be in the nominative.

Goste is a different form:

goste – accusative plural (direct object: we see the guests → vidimo goste)

What case is na zabavi, and why is it zabavi, not zabavu?

Na zabavi is locative singular.

The noun is zabava (a party).
Locative singular of zabava is zabavi.

The preposition na can take:

locative when it means “on / at (a place)”:
- na stolu (on the table)
- na poslu (at work)
- na zabavi (at the party)
accusative when it means “onto / to (a destination)”:
- na stol (onto the table)
- na posao (to work)
- na zabavu (to the party)

Here, the guests are at the party (location), so you use na + locative → na zabavi.

What case are tanjure, čaše, noževe i vilice, and why do tanjuri / noževi change to tanjure / noževe?

All four nouns are in the accusative plural, because they are the direct objects of the verb peremo (we wash):

peremo koga / što? – tanjure, čaše, noževe i vilice

Forms:

tanjur – plate
- nominative plural: tanjuri
- accusative plural: tanjure
časha → čaša – glass
- nominative plural: čaše
- accusative plural: čaše (same form for feminine in -a)
nož – knife
- nominative plural: noževi
- accusative plural: noževe
vilica – fork
- nominative plural: vilice
- accusative plural: vilice (same form)

For many masculine inanimate nouns like tanjur, nož, the accusative plural ends in -e (tanjure, noževe), while the nominative plural ends in -i (tanjuri, noževi).

Why is there a comma after na zabavi: Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, peremo…?

Because the sentence has two clauses:

Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi – subordinate clause (time clause, introduced by čim)
peremo tanjure, čaše, noževe i vilice – main clause

In Croatian, when a subordinate clause (introduced by čim, kad, ako, jer, iako, etc.) comes before the main clause, a comma is normally placed at the end of the subordinate clause:

Kad dođeš, nazovi me.
Ako padne kiša, ostajemo doma.
Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure…

If you reverse the order, you often don’t use a comma:

Peremo tanjure čim gosti više nisu na zabavi.

Could we say Peremo tanjure čim gosti više nisu na zabavi instead? Is that still correct?

Yes, that word order is also grammatical and natural:

Peremo tanjure, čaše, noževe i vilice čim gosti više nisu na zabavi.

The meaning is the same. Croatian word order is quite flexible:

Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure…
Peremo tanjure čim gosti više nisu na zabavi.

The first version puts more focus on the time condition (“As soon as…”), because it comes first. The second one starts with the action. Both are fine.

Why doesn’t Croatian use words like “the” or “our” before tanjure, čaše, noževe i vilice?

Croatian has no articles like “a / an / the”.

So a bare noun phrase such as:

tanjure, čaše, noževe i vilice

can be translated depending on context as:

the plates, the glasses, the knives and the forks
some plates, some glasses…
our plates, our glasses…

Here, from context, we understand it as the plates, glasses, knives and forks (from the party / our dishes), but Croatian doesn’t need to mark this explicitly with an article or a possessive.

You only add a possessive (naše tanjure) if you really want to emphasize whose they are, otherwise it’s usually left out.

Could we use oprati instead of prati, e.g. Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, oprat ćemo tanjure? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can. The difference is aspect:

prati – imperfective (focus on the process or repeated/habitual action)
- peremo tanjure – we (typically) wash the plates (each time / we are in the process of washing)
oprati – perfective (focus on the completed result, “get something washed”)
- oprat ćemo tanjure – we will wash them (and have them done)

So:

Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure…
sounds like a habit / routine (every time guests leave, we wash the dishes).
Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi, oprat ćemo tanjure…
sounds like a specific future action: “Once the guests are no longer at the party, we will (then) wash the dishes (and finish that task).”

Both are correct; the original sentence leans toward a general rule or habit.

Is više necessary? Could we say Čim gosti nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure…?

You can say:

Čim gosti nisu na zabavi, peremo tanjure…

but it sounds less natural, because čim already implies a change of situation at a specific moment. Using više (“any more, no longer”) fits very well with that idea:

Čim gosti više nisu na zabavi…
→ As soon as the guests are no longer at the party… (the moment they are gone)

Without više, it sounds more like “as soon as they (simply) aren’t at the party”, which is logically a bit odd, since the interesting moment is when they stop being there.

So više is not strictly mandatory for grammar, but it is very natural and idiomatic here.