Learn Hardcore Croatian: Jesen u našem gradu je tiha; u parku pada zlatno lišće i djeca se manje igraju. - Autumn in our city is quiet; golden leaves fall in the park and the children play less.

Season names (jesen – autumn, zima – winter, proljeće – spring, ljeto – summer) are not capitalized in Croatian in normal use. So inside a sentence you would write:

U jesen pada kiša. – In (the) autumn it rains.

Capitalization rules are similar to English: first word of a sentence, proper names, etc., but seasons are written with a small letter unless they start the sentence.

What gender is jesen, and why is the adjective tiha used?

Jesen is grammatically feminine in Croatian.

Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case, so:

tiha is feminine singular nominative, agreeing with jesen.

You would say:

tiha jesen – quiet autumn
topla jesen – warm autumn

If the noun were masculine, you would use tih (e.g. tih grad – quiet town); for neuter, tiho (e.g. tiho selo – quiet village).

Why is it u našem gradu and not something like u naš grad?

After the preposition u meaning in (location), Croatian normally uses the locative case.

grad (city, town) – nominative singular
u gradu – in the city (locative singular)

With the possessive adjective:

naš grad – our town (nominative)
u našem gradu – in our town (locative)

So u + našem gradu is in our town; using u naš grad would mean into our town (direction, accusative), not a static location.

Why does našem end in -em and not -om?

Našem is the locative singular masculine/neuter form of naš (our).

For many soft-stem adjectives and pronouns (ending in -š, -ž, -j), the dative/locative singular often ends in -em, not -om:

naš → našem gradu – in our town
loš → lošem gradu – in a bad town
mlađi → mlađem bratu – to the younger brother

So u našem gradu is the regular, correct form.

Why is it Jesen u našem gradu je tiha, and not Jesen je tiha u našem gradu or U našem gradu je jesen tiha?

All of these are grammatically possible; Croatian word order is relatively flexible. The differences are mostly in focus and style:

Jesen u našem gradu je tiha. – Neutral, flowing description: “Autumn in our town is quiet.”
U našem gradu je jesen tiha. – Puts a bit more emphasis on in our town (maybe in contrast to other places).
Jesen je tiha u našem gradu. – Sounds more marked; it can emphasize in our town as a limiting condition.

The given sentence is stylistically the smoothest and most typical for such a descriptive statement.

Why is there a semicolon ( ; ) before u parku pada zlatno lišće instead of just a comma?

The semicolon is used much like in English:

to connect two closely related independent clauses,
stronger separation than a comma, but weaker than a full stop.

You could also write:

Jesen u našem gradu je tiha, u parku pada zlatno lišće… – less formal, a bit “lighter”.
Jesen u našem gradu je tiha. U parku pada zlatno lišće… – more “choppy”, two separate sentences.

The semicolon nicely links the general statement (autumn is quiet) with a more specific scene (in the park, golden leaves are falling).

In u parku pada zlatno lišće, why is the word order pada zlatno lišće and not zlatno lišće pada?

Both word orders are correct:

U parku pada zlatno lišće.
U parku zlatno lišće pada.

Croatian allows flexible word order. The chosen order pada zlatno lišće:

can sound a bit more poetic / descriptive,
puts a small stylistic emphasis on the action (falling) before naming what is falling.

In a very neutral, everyday sentence, you might expect subject + verb first:

Zlatno lišće pada u parku. – Golden leaves are falling in the park.

But in literary or descriptive style, inversion like pada zlatno lišće is common.

Why is zlatno used instead of zlatni with lišće?

Lišće (leaves, foliage) is grammatically:

neuter singular, even though it refers to many leaves (a collective noun).

Adjectives must agree with lišće in gender and number, so:

zlatno lišće – golden leaves (neuter singular)
suho lišće – dry leaves
opalo lišće – fallen leaves

If you used zlatni lišće, it would be ungrammatical, because zlatni is masculine plural/nominative form and does not match lišće.

What is the difference between lišće and listovi?

Both relate to leaves, but they are used differently:

lišće – collective noun, “foliage / leaves” as a mass:
- Na zemlji je puno lišća. – There is a lot of leaves on the ground.
listovi – regular plural of list (leaf), used when counting or emphasizing individual leaves:
- Tri lista / tri listova su pala. – Three leaves fell.

In your sentence, the focus is on autumn atmosphere, not counting leaves, so zlatno lišće (golden foliage) is the natural choice.

In djeca se manje igraju, why do we need se? What does it mean here?

Se is a reflexive pronoun that forms the verb igrati se:

igrati se = to play (as children play, for fun)
igrati (without se) = to play something specific (a sport, an instrument, a role):
- igrati nogomet – to play football
- igrati violinu – to play the violin
- igrati u filmu – to act in a film

So djeca se igraju = children play (they are playing, having fun).
Without se, djeca igraju would expect an object (Children play… what?), and sounds incomplete or changes the meaning.

Where can se go in djeca se manje igraju? Could you say djeca manje se igraju or se djeca manje igraju?

Croatian clitic pronouns like se prefer the second position in the clause. In your sentence, the natural placements are:

Djeca se manje igraju. – neutral, most natural.
Djeca se igraju manje. – a bit more emphasis on less at the end.

Forms like:

Djeca manje se igraju.
Se djeca manje igraju.

are either unnatural or wrong in standard Croatian. So Djeca se manje igraju is the best version.

Why does djeca (children) take a plural verb igraju if the word ends in -a?

Djeca is an irregular noun:

It looks like a feminine singular (ending in -a),
but it behaves as plural neuter in agreement.

So:

Djeca su vesela. – Children are happy.
Djeca se igraju. – Children are playing.

The verb is always in 3rd person plural, and adjectives are in plural neuter (e.g. vesela, mala djeca). This is just an irregular pattern you need to memorize.

What case is djeca in djeca se manje igraju, and why?

Here djeca is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the verb igraju:

Tko se manje igra? – Djeca.
(Who plays less? – The children.)

The basic dictionary form of djeca is already nominative plural, so the form does not change for this role.

What does manje mean exactly in djeca se manje igraju, and can it go somewhere else?

Manje is the comparative form of malo (little):

malo – little, not much
manje – less

So djeca se manje igraju = children play less (than before / than usual).

It can move a bit in the sentence:

Djeca se manje igraju. – neutral, common.
Djeca se igraju manje. – slight emphasis on less at the end.
Manje se djeca igraju. – more emphasis on less, stylistically marked.

But se should stay early in the clause, and manje must stay close to the verb phrase it modifies.

Why is the whole sentence in the present tense? Could you use past tense instead?

The present tense here describes a general, typical situation in autumn:

Jesen u našem gradu je tiha; u parku pada zlatno lišće i djeca se manje igraju.
– This is what (usually) happens in autumn in our town.

You could put it in the past if you are telling a specific story about one past autumn:

Jesen u našem gradu je bila tiha; u parku je padalo zlatno lišće i djeca su se manje igrala.

But then you are describing one particular time in the past, not a general recurring scene. The present tense makes it feel timeless and descriptive.