Learn Hardcore Croatian: Na balkonu pijemo jutarnju kavu i gledamo u park. - On the balcony we drink morning coffee and look at the park.

The preposition na can take either accusative or locative.
- na
  - accusative = movement onto something
- na
  - locative = location on something

Here we are describing a place where an action happens, not movement:

Na balkonu pijemo… – We drink on the balcony. (location → locative: balkonu)
Compare:
Idemo na balkon. – We are going onto the balcony. (movement → accusative: balkon)

So na balkonu must use the locative form balkonu.

Why is there no word for we in the Croatian sentence?

Croatian usually drops subject pronouns (like I, you, we, they) because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

pijemo = we drink / we are drinking
- -mo ending = 1st person plural (we)
gledamo = we look / we are looking
- again -mo = we

So Na balkonu pijemo jutarnju kavu i gledamo u park. already tells you it is we.
You can say Mi pijemo… for emphasis (for example, contrasting: Mi pijemo kavu, oni piju čaj.), but normally it is omitted.

Why are both verbs pijemo and gledamo in the same form, and what exactly are they?

Both pijemo and gledamo are:

present tense
1st person plural (we)
indicative mood (normal statement)

They are just different verbs conjugated for the same subject:

infinitive: piti – to drink
- (mi) pijemo – we drink / we are drinking
infinitive: gledati – to look, to watch
- (mi) gledamo – we look / we are looking

One subject (we) is doing two simultaneous actions, so Croatian links them with i (and) without repeating the subject or the pronoun.

Does this sentence mean we are drinking (right now) or we drink (as a habit)?

The Croatian present tense can express both:

Right now:
- At this moment, we are on the balcony, drinking coffee and looking at the park.
Habitual:
- Every morning, we (generally) drink coffee on the balcony and look at the park.

By itself, the sentence is ambiguous. Context or time expressions like:

svako jutro – every morning
upravo sada – right now

would specify which meaning is intended.

Why is jutarnju used instead of jutarnja?

The base adjective is jutarnji (morning). For a feminine noun like kava, its nominative form would be:

jutarnja kava – morning coffee (as a subject: Morning coffee is hot.)

But in the sentence, jutarnju kavu is the direct object of pijemo (we are drinking it), so the noun is in accusative feminine singular:

Nominative: jutarnja kava – morning coffee (subject)
Accusative: jutarnju kavu – (we drink) morning coffee (object)

The adjective must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun:

kava → accusative kavu
jutarnja → accusative jutarnju

So jutarnju kavu is the grammatically correct object form.

Why is it kavu and not kava?

Kava is a feminine noun:

Nominative singular (dictionary form): kava – coffee

As the direct object of the verb pijemo, it must appear in the accusative case:

Nominative: kava – Kava je vruća. (The coffee is hot.)
Accusative: kavu – Pijemo kavu. (We drink coffee.)

So in this sentence, kavu is required because it is being drunk (object), not doing the action (subject).

Why is jutarnju kavu in that order? Could it be kavu jutarnju?

The normal, neutral word order for adjectives and nouns in Croatian is:

adjective + noun: jutarnja kava, crna kava, velika kuća

So jutarnju kavu is the standard, natural order.

Putting the adjective after the noun (kavu jutarnju) is possible only in special, often poetic or highly emphatic contexts, and would sound strange in everyday speech. For a learner, you should always keep adjective before noun.

Why is it gledamo u park instead of just gledamo park?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

gledamo park – we watch/are looking at the park (as an object in front of us)
gledamo u park – we are looking into the park, directing our gaze towards its interior

The construction gledati u + accusative emphasizes the direction of the gaze (towards/into a place), not so much the park as an object being observed.

In this sentence, gledamo u park suggests:

we are on the balcony and our eyes are turned towards the park area.

Both are grammatically correct; it is a nuance of meaning.

Is park also in a particular case here? Why park, not parku?

Yes, park here is in the accusative singular:

Nominative: park – the park (subject)
Accusative: park – (look) at/toward the park (object or goal)

Masculine inanimate nouns often have the same form in nominative and accusative, so it looks unchanged.

The preposition u can use:

accusative for movement/direction: Idemo u park. – We are going to the park.
locative for location: Sjedimo u parku. – We are sitting in the park.

In gledamo u park, it is about direction of gaze, so u takes the accusative: park, not parku.

Could we say gledamo park without u? Would the meaning change a lot?

You can say gledamo park, and it is grammatically correct. The nuance:

gledamo park – we look at / we are viewing the park as an object (e.g. admiring it, watching what is happening there)
gledamo u park – our gaze is directed into the park (towards the inside of that space); focus on direction rather than on the park as an object

In many everyday contexts, they will overlap in meaning. But if you imagine, for example, looking out of a window, gledati u park strongly suggests the direction where you are looking.

Why does the sentence start with Na balkonu? Could it come later in the sentence?

Croatian word order is flexible. You can move parts for emphasis or style without changing the basic meaning. For example:

Na balkonu pijemo jutarnju kavu i gledamo u park.
Pijemo jutarnju kavu na balkonu i gledamo u park.
Pijemo jutarnju kavu i gledamo u park na balkonu. (less natural, but possible in context)

Starting with Na balkonu puts emphasis on where this happens. It is a common pattern in Croatian to begin with a location or time phrase:

Ujutro pijemo kavu. – In the morning, we drink coffee.
Na poslu pijem čaj. – At work, I drink tea.

So the front position is mostly about information structure and emphasis, not grammar.

Why is i used between the verbs, and can it link just verbs like this?

Yes. I is the normal conjunction meaning and, and it can link:

words: kava i čaj – coffee and tea
phrases: na balkonu i u dnevnoj sobi – on the balcony and in the living room
verbs/clauses: pijemo kavu i gledamo u park – we drink coffee and look at the park

In the sentence, it links two actions by the same subject:

(mi) pijemo jutarnju kavu
(mi) gledamo u park

Croatian does not require you to repeat the subject (or pronoun) in the second part.

Why are there no words like the or a (articles) in Croatian?

Croatian generally does not use articles like English the or a/an. Nouns appear without articles:

kava – coffee / the coffee / a coffee (depending on context)
balkon – (the) balcony
park – (the) park

Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context, word order, or other words (like demonstratives taj/ovaj/onaj = that/this).

In Na balkonu pijemo jutarnju kavu i gledamo u park, English needs articles:

On the balcony we drink (our) morning coffee and look at the park.

Croatian expresses the same idea without any article words.