Learn Hardcore Croatian: Cijeli dan radimo u uredu, pa je važno da navečer budemo opušteni. - We work in the office all day, so it is important that in the evening we are relaxed.

So mi is understood from the verb forms. You would only add mi for emphasis or contrast, e.g. Mi cijeli dan radimo u uredu, a oni ne rade ništa. (“We work in the office all day, and they don’t do anything.”)

What does cijeli dan literally mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

cijeli dan literally means “the whole day / all day”.

Word order is flexible. All of these are correct, with slightly different emphasis:

Cijeli dan radimo u uredu… (focus on how long: all day we work…)
Radimo cijeli dan u uredu… (focus on working all day in the office)
Radimo u uredu cijeli dan… (focus on being in the office all day)

The meaning doesn’t really change, just what is being highlighted.

Why is it u uredu and not u ured or something else?

The preposition u (“in”) can take locative or accusative, depending on meaning:

u
- locative for “in/inside (no movement)”
u
- accusative for “into (movement)”

Here it means “in the office” with no movement, so you use locative:

ured (nominative: “office”)
(u) uredu (locative: “in the office”)

If you said u ured, it would suggest movement into the office: Idemo u ured. (“We’re going into the office.”)

What does pa mean here, and how is it different from jer or tako da?

In this sentence, pa roughly means “so / and so / and therefore” and links two related ideas:

Cijeli dan radimo u uredu, pa je važno…
“We work in the office all day, so it’s important…”

Comparisons:

jer = “because” (gives a reason: “…it’s important because…”)
tako da = “so that / in such a way that” (often shows result or purpose)
pa is lighter and more conversational, often just “and / and so” without stressing the logical cause too strongly.

Here pa makes the sentence sound natural and spoken: “We work all day in the office, so it’s important to be relaxed in the evening.”

Why is it je važno after pa, instead of važno je?

The word je (the short form of biti, “to be”) is a clitic and normally wants to be in second position in its clause.

The clause after the comma is:

pa je važno da…

Here, pa is the first element of the clause, so the clitic je goes right after it (second position):

pa (1st) + je (2nd) + važno …

If the clause started directly with važno, then you would say:

Važno je da navečer budemo opušteni.

Both patterns follow the same rule: clitics want to stand after the first stressed word or element in the clause.

Why is it da navečer budemo opušteni and not just da smo opušteni?

The structure je važno da + present tense often uses the so‑called “da‑subjunctive” with biti:

da budem, da budeš, da bude, da budemo, da budete, da budu

da budemo opušteni can be understood as “that we be relaxed” (a desired or important state).

You could hear da smo opušteni, and it’s not impossible, but:

da budemo opušteni sounds more natural here because it expresses what should be the case (a desired state in general).
da smo opušteni more often describes something as a fact in a specific situation (“that we are relaxed (right now)”).

So je važno da budemo opušteni = “it is important that we (should) be relaxed.”

What is the difference between navečer, uvečer, and večer?

večer = “evening” (a noun)
- Navečer je mirno. – “It’s quiet in the evening.”
- Volim ovu večer. – “I like this evening.”
navečer = “in the evening / evenings” (adverb), very common
uvečer = also “in the evening” (adverb), slightly less common, more regional/preferential

In this sentence, navečer = “in the evening / in the evenings”.
You could also say Uvečer budemo opušteni, but navečer is a very typical choice.

Why is it opušteni and not opušteno?

opušteni is an adjective (masculine plural), agreeing with the implied subject mi:

mi smo opušteni = “we are relaxed” (state)

opušteno is an adverb, meaning “in a relaxed way / in a relaxed manner”:

Radimo opušteno. – “We work in a relaxed way.”

Because the verb biti (“to be”) normally takes an adjective to describe the subject’s state, you say:

budemo opušteni = “(that) we be relaxed”

not “budemo opušteno”.

Why is opušteni masculine plural if the group could be mixed or female?

Croatian has grammatical gender. For groups of people:

If the group is all female, use feminine plural:
- (mi) smo opuštene
If the group is all male or mixed, use masculine plural:
- (mi) smo opušteni

The default for a mixed or unspecified group is masculine plural, so in a neutral sentence like this, opušteni is the expected form.

What kind of present tense is radimo here – does it mean right now, or usually?

In Croatian, the present tense can express:

Right now actions
- Sada radimo u uredu. – “We’re working in the office now.”
Regular / habitual actions
- Cijeli dan radimo u uredu. – “We work in the office all day (as a routine).”

In your sentence, without a time like “now”, and with cijeli dan, it reads as a habitual/general statement:
“We (typically) work in the office all day.”

Could the sentence be in the past tense, and how would it change?

Yes, in the past tense (perfect), it would look like:

Cijeli dan smo radili u uredu, pa je bilo važno da navečer budemo opušteni.
“We worked in the office all day, so it was important that we were relaxed in the evening.”

Changes:

radimo → smo radili (past)
je važno → je bilo važno (past)
The da budemo opušteni part can stay in the present‑subjunctive form, even when the main clause is in the past, because it’s more about the desired state than about strict time agreement.