Breakdown of Moja sestra svira gitaru, a brat svira klavir.
Questions & Answers about Moja sestra svira gitaru, a brat svira klavir.
In Croatian, adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
- Sestra (sister) is feminine, singular, nominative.
- The matching form of moj (my) for feminine singular nominative is moja.
So:
- moja sestra = my sister
- moj brat = my brother (because brat is masculine)
Sestra is in the nominative case, which is used for the subject of the sentence (the “doer” of the action).
- Moja sestra is the subject: My sister is the one who plays.
- Therefore it must be sestra (nominative), not sestru (accusative).
You would use sestru when it is the object, for example:
- Vidim svoju sestru. – I see my sister.
This is again about case.
- Gitara is the nominative form (used for subjects).
- Gitaru is the accusative form (used mainly for direct objects).
In svira gitaru:
- gitaru is the object of the verb svira (plays).
- So it must be in the accusative: gitaru, not gitara.
Similarly:
- On svira klavir. – He plays the piano. (klavir is accusative = same as nominative for many masculine nouns)
- On svira gitaru. – He plays the guitar. (gitaru accusative, feminine)
It can be:
- Moja sestra svira gitaru, a moj brat svira klavir.
However, in Croatian it’s very natural to omit repeated possessives when the context is clear, especially with close family members.
Because the sentence already starts with Moja sestra (my sister), the listener easily understands that brat is also “my brother,” so you don’t need to repeat moj.
Both versions are correct:
- With moj: slightly more explicit.
- Without moj: more natural, less repetitive.
Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, ona, mi, vi, oni...) are usually omitted when the verb form already shows who is doing the action.
In Moja sestra svira gitaru:
- The subject is clearly moja sestra (my sister).
- Adding ona would be redundant: Ona, moja sestra, svira gitaru – possible, but normally unnecessary and stylistically heavier.
So Croatian usually skips he/she unless:
- You need to emphasise the subject.
- Or you want to contrast people: On svira klavir, a ona gitaru. – He plays piano, and she (plays) guitar.
Yes. Svirati means to play (a musical instrument).
You use it for things like:
- svirati gitaru – to play the guitar
- svirati klavir – to play the piano
- svirati violinu – to play the violin
You do not use svirati for:
- Playing sports → igrati (e.g. igrati nogomet – to play football)
- Playing general games → often igrati se or igrati.
So svira gitaru is exactly “plays (the) guitar”, musically.
In Croatian, verbs in the present tense change by person and number, not by gender.
Svirati – present tense (singular):
- (ja) sviram – I play
- (ti) sviraš – you (sg.) play
- (on / ona / ono) svira – he / she / it plays
Both moja sestra and brat are third person singular (ona / on), so they both take the same verb form: svira.
- Moja sestra svira gitaru. – She plays the guitar.
- Brat svira klavir. – He plays the piano.
Both a and i can be translated as and, but they have different nuances.
i = simple and, just adding information.
- Imam sestru i brata. – I have a sister and a brother.
a = often and / but / while, used to show contrast or difference, or to place two things side by side for comparison.
In Moja sestra svira gitaru, a brat svira klavir:
- a suggests a kind of contrast: My sister plays the guitar, while my brother plays the piano.
If you said:
- Moja sestra svira gitaru i brat svira klavir.
it would sound less natural and miss that contrastive “one does X, the other does Y” feeling.
Yes, that’s possible and quite natural in spoken and informal written Croatian.
- Moja sestra svira gitaru, a brat klavir.
The second svira is understood from context. This is a kind of ellipsis (omitting repeated words when they are obvious).
All of these are acceptable, with slightly different styles:
- Moja sestra svira gitaru, a brat svira klavir. (full, explicit)
- Moja sestra svira gitaru, a brat klavir. (shorter, more fluent)
Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English because cases show the grammatical roles.
All of these are grammatically correct, but have different emphasis:
- Moja sestra svira gitaru. – neutral: My sister plays the guitar.
- Gitaru svira moja sestra. – emphasises gitaru or a contrast: It’s the guitar that my sister plays.
- Moja sestra gitaru svira. – possible, but marked/poetic or used for strong emphasis.
For beginners, it’s best to stick to the neutral SVO order:
- Moja sestra svira gitaru.
Croatian has no articles (the, a, an). Nouns appear without them, and you interpret definiteness from context.
- svira gitaru can mean:
- plays the guitar
- plays a guitar
depending on the situation.
With instruments and some other nouns, English often uses the, but Croatian just uses the bare noun in the right case:
- svira gitaru – plays (the) guitar
- svira klavir – plays (the) piano
With svirati and a specific instrument, Croatian usually uses the instrument as a direct object in the accusative case:
- svirati gitaru – to play the guitar
- svirati klavir – to play the piano
- svirati violinu – to play the violin
This focuses on what you play.
You can also say:
- svirati na gitari – literally “to play on the guitar”.
This can sound a bit more descriptive, like focusing on the instrument as a surface/medium, and is often used in some styles or contexts, but svirati gitaru is the default and more common when simply stating that someone plays that instrument.
So in this sentence, svira gitaru and svira klavir are the most natural choices.