Learn Hardcore Croatian: Kad ti gledam lice, vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost. - When I look at your face, I see both tiredness and joy in your eyes.

kad – shorter, more colloquial, very common in everyday speech.
kada – slightly more formal or careful, common in writing and in more elevated or emphatic speech.

There is no change in meaning if you swap them in this sentence.

Why is it kad ti gledam lice and not simply kad gledam tvoje lice? What does ti do here?

Both are correct, but they sound a bit different:

Kad ti gledam lice
Kad gledam tvoje lice

The ti is the dative form of ti (you), and here it’s used as a dative of possession, something very common in Croatian (and other Slavic languages) with body parts and clothes.

Kad ti gledam lice literally: When I look (to/at) your face (of yours)
→ idiomatic: When I look at your face

Using ti like this:

Feels more intimate / personal, often used with loved ones, close friends, children.
Emphasizes that it’s your face, with a kind of emotional closeness.

By contrast:

Kad gledam tvoje lice – also correct, clear, and neutral. It just uses the possessive adjective tvoje instead of the dative pronoun ti. It sounds a bit more “textbook-neutral” and slightly less colloquial/intimate.

Why is ti before gledam? Could I say Kad gledam ti lice instead?

You cannot say Kad gledam ti lice. That word order is wrong in Croatian.

The reason: ti here is an unstressed pronoun (clitic), and clitics in Croatian must appear in the second position in the clause.

Clause: Kad ti gledam lice
- First element: Kad
- Second position: ti (clitic)
- Then: gledam lice

If you remove kad, in a simple main clause you’d have:

Gledam ti lice. (correct)
Ti gledam lice. (only with strong emphasis, different feel)
Gledam lice ti. (wrong in standard Croatian)

So: Kad ti gledam lice is dictated by the “second position” rule for clitics, and Kad gledam ti lice violates that rule.

Why does the sentence use both gledam and vidim? What’s the difference between gledati and vidjeti?

Croatian distinguishes between:

gledati – to look (at), to watch, focusing on the action/intention of looking.
vidjeti – to see, focusing on what actually appears to you.

In the sentence:

Kad ti gledam lice – When I am looking at your face (I direct my eyes to your face)
vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost – I see in your eyes both tiredness and joy (this is what becomes visible to me)

So the pairing is very natural:

First: the act of looking → gledam
Second: the result / perception → vidim

What case is tvojim očima in, and why is that case used with u here?

Tvojim očima is in the locative plural.

Breakdown:

tvoj – your
- plural dative/locative/instrumental: tvojim
oko (eye) – plural nominative: oči
- plural dative/locative/instrumental: očima

Together: u tvojim očima = in your eyes

With the preposition u:

u
- locative → in / inside a place or space.
  - u gradu – in the city
  - u kući – in the house
  - u tvojim očima – in your eyes

So vidim u tvojim očima literally: I see in your eyes, which matches the English expression exactly.

Why is it očima and not just oči? How do these forms work?

Oko (eye) is irregular:

Singular:
- Nominative: oko – an eye
Plural:
- Nominative: oči – eyes
- Dative/Locative/Instrumental: očima

In this sentence, we need locative plural after u (when it means in a place):

u očima → in (the) eyes
u tvojim očima → in your eyes

If you said u tvoje oči, that would be accusative and would sound like into your eyes (direction, motion), which would be wrong here. We want a static location: in your eyes, so: u tvojim očima.

What does i umor i radost mean exactly? Why are there two i’s?

The structure i X i Y means “both X and Y”.

i umor i radost → both tiredness and joy

So:

vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost
→ I see *both tiredness and joy in your eyes.*

The double i is a standard way to emphasize that both elements are present.

Could I just say umor i radost instead of i umor i radost?

Yes, you could say:

vidim u tvojim očima umor i radost

This would still mean I see tiredness and joy in your eyes, but it is a bit more neutral.

The version with i umor i radost:

adds a nuance of emphasis or balance, like English “both tiredness and joy”
sounds slightly more expressive or literary/emotional.

So both are correct; the original sentence simply highlights that both feelings are visible at the same time.

Is the word order in vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost fixed, or can I move things around?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, especially compared to English. All of these are grammatically correct, with slight differences in emphasis:

Vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost. (neutral; what you see is placed later)
U tvojim očima vidim i umor i radost. (emphasizes the location: in your eyes)
Vidim i umor i radost u tvojim očima. (emphasizes the two things you see)

The original order is very natural: the speaker first introduces the place where they see something (in your eyes), then names what they see.

Why is it Kad ti gledam lice with gledam, not Kad ti pogledam lice with pogledam?

This is about aspect: imperfective vs. perfective.

gledati (imperfective) – to be looking, to look (ongoing or repeated action)
pogledati (perfective) – to take a look, to have a look (one whole, completed action)

So:

Kad ti gledam lice – When (whenever/while) I look at your face
- emphasizes a process or repeated/habitual situation.
Kad ti pogledam lice – When I (take a) look at your face (once)
- sounds more like a single, brief act.

In a sentence describing a general, emotional observation, gledam (imperfective) fits better, because it suggests “whenever I look at your face, I (always) see this”.

Why is there a comma after lice? Is the comma always required here?

Yes, in standard Croatian you put a comma between a subordinate clause and the main clause.

The structure is:

Subordinate time clause: Kad ti gledam lice – When I look at your face
Main clause: vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost – I see in your eyes both tiredness and joy.

Rule: when the subordinate clause comes before the main clause, you separate them with a comma:

Kad ti gledam lice, vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost.

If you reverse the order, the comma is usually dropped:

Vidim u tvojim očima i umor i radost kad ti gledam lice. (no comma needed here in standard usage)