Roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku.

Parents look after the children in the park.

Breakdown of Roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku.

• u: in
• park: park
• dijete: child
• roditelj: parent
• čuvati: to look after

Questions & Answers about Roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku.

Why is there no word for “the” in this sentence?

Croatian does not have articles like “a/an” or “the” at all.

So:

• Roditelji can mean “parents” or “the parents”
• djecu can mean “children” or “the children”
• u parku can mean “in a park” or “in the park”

The context decides whether you translate it with “the” or not in English. The Croatian sentence itself does not mark this difference grammatically.

What grammatical cases are used for roditelji, djecu, and parku, and why?

• roditelji – nominative plural

  • Nominative is used for the subject of the sentence: Roditelji (who?) are doing the action.

• djecu – accusative plural

  • Accusative is used for the direct object (the thing/person directly affected by the action).
  • The parents are looking after whom? → djecu.

• parku – locative singular

  • With location prepositions like u (in) and na (on), the locative is used to show a place where something happens.
  • u parku = in the park (location, not movement).

So the pattern is: Subject (NOM) + Verb + Direct object (ACC) + Location (LOC).

Why is it djecu and not djeca?

The noun dijete (a child) is irregular in the plural:

• Singular:
  
  • dijete – child (nominative singular)
• Plural:
  
  • djeca – children (nominative plural, used as the subject)
  • djecu – children (accusative plural, used as the direct object)

In the sentence, children are the direct object (the ones being looked after), so you need the accusative plural, which is djecu, not djeca.

If children were the subject, you would say, for example:
Djeca se igraju u parku. – The children are playing in the park.

Why is it u parku and not u park?

The preposition u can take two different cases, depending on meaning:

1. Locative case – for location (where something is)

   • u parku – in the park (locative)
   • Sjedimo u parku. – We’re sitting in the park.

2. Accusative case – for movement into something (where you’re going)

   • u park – into the park (accusative)
   • Idemo u park. – We’re going to the park.

In Roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku, the action is happening in the park, not moving towards it, so u takes the locative: u parku.

What exactly does čuvaju mean here? Is it “watch”, “guard”, or “take care of”?

The verb čuvati has several related meanings; context decides which English verb fits best:

• to look after / to take care of
  
  • Roditelji čuvaju djecu. – Parents are looking after the children.
• to guard / to protect
  
  • Policija čuva zgradu. – The police are guarding the building.
• to keep / to preserve
  
  • Čuvam novac u banci. – I keep money in the bank.

In everyday family context, čuvati djecu most naturally means “to look after / mind / babysit the children” rather than just “look at” them.

So here, a natural translation is:

• The parents are looking after the children in the park.
  or
• The parents are minding the children in the park.

Is čuvaju a present simple or a present continuous form?

Croatian has one present tense form for both meanings:

• čuvaju = they look after / they are looking after

So Roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku can mean:

• The parents look after the children in the park (habitual action)
• The parents are looking after the children in the park (right now)

Only the context (or adverbs like sad – now, svaki dan – every day) tells you whether it’s habitual or ongoing.

Can I change the word order, like U parku roditelji čuvaju djecu? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English. These are all grammatically correct:

• Roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku.
• U parku roditelji čuvaju djecu.
• Roditelji u parku čuvaju djecu.

The basic meaning (who does what to whom, and where) stays the same because cases mark the roles.

What changes is mainly the emphasis:

• Roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku.
  
  • Neutral: describes what the parents are doing and where.
• U parku roditelji čuvaju djecu.
  
  • Slightly emphasizes the location “in the park” first.
• Roditelji u parku čuvaju djecu.
  
  • Emphasizes that these are the parents who are in the park (maybe contrasting with parents elsewhere).

In normal neutral speech, the original order is the most typical.

How would this sentence look in the past tense?

To form the past tense (perfect), you use:

past of “to be” (biti) + past participle

For čuvati:

• 3rd person plural past participle: čuvali (for a mixed or all-male group)
• Auxiliary su (they are/were)

So:

• Roditelji su čuvali djecu u parku.
  = The parents looked after / were looking after the children in the park.

If you know the parents are all female (mothers, babysitters, etc.), you’d say:

• Roditelji su čuvale djecu u parku.
  (in writing this looks odd because roditelji is grammatically masculine; in real life you’d more likely say Majke su čuvale djecu… – The mothers were looking after the children.)

How would I say “The parents will look after the children in the park”?

Croatian uses an auxiliary verb for the future tense:

ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će + infinitive

For they will look after:

• oni će čuvati → će čuvati

So the full sentence:

• Roditelji će čuvati djecu u parku.
  = The parents will look after the children in the park.

How can I say “My parents are looking after the children in the park”?

You add a possessive pronoun that agrees in gender and number with the noun:

• moj roditelj – my parent (singular)
• moji roditelji – my parents (plural)

So:

• Moji roditelji čuvaju djecu u parku.
  = My parents are looking after the children in the park.

Note that moji agrees with roditelji (masculine plural form).

Can I drop roditelji or djeca if they’re already known from context?

You can drop the subject, but not normally the object, if you still want a complete sentence.

1. Dropping the subject (because the verb already shows “they”):

• Čuvaju djecu u parku.
  = They are looking after the children in the park.

This is very natural in Croatian, because čuvaju clearly shows 3rd person plural.

2. Dropping the object is only possible if it’s completely obvious from context:

• Roditelji čuvaju u parku.
  This is grammatically possible but sounds incomplete; a listener would usually ask “Čuvaju što/koga?” (What/who are they looking after?)

So: dropping roditelji is common; dropping djecu usually is not, unless it was just very clearly mentioned.

Is roditelji gender-specific? Does it mean “mother and father” or just any parents?

Roditelji is masculine plural, but it is used for parents in general:

• It can mean a mother and a father
• It can also refer to two fathers, two mothers, or parents as a general category

Grammatically, mixed or unknown gender groups default to masculine plural in Croatian. That’s why the verb is čuvaju (3rd person plural, masculine/mixed).

Can I replace djecu with a pronoun like “them”? Where would it go?

Yes, you can replace djecu with the object pronoun ih (them). Croatian object pronouns are clitics, which usually go in the second position in the sentence.

Examples:

• Roditelji ih čuvaju u parku.
  = The parents are looking after them in the park.

If you move other parts, ih still tends to stay in second position:

• U parku ih roditelji čuvaju.
• Roditelji ih u parku čuvaju.

The basic meaning doesn’t change; only the emphasis does.