Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ona voli ples i često pleše s prijateljicama. - She loves dance and often dances with her female friends.

voli ples = literally “(she) loves dance / dancing” (with ples as a noun, “dance”).
voli plesati = literally “(she) loves to dance” (with plesati as a verb in the infinitive).

In practice they usually mean the same thing: she enjoys dancing.
Using the noun (ples) can sound a bit more general or abstract (“the activity of dance”), but in everyday speech either is fine and very natural.

Is the subject pronoun ona necessary? Could I just say Voli ples i često pleše s prijateljicama?

You can absolutely drop ona:

Voli ples i često pleše s prijateljicama.

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending (-i, -e, etc.) usually tells you the subject, so pronouns like ona (she), on (he) are often omitted.

You use ona mainly:

for clarity (if context is unclear: who are we talking about?), or
for emphasis (e.g. Ona voli ples, ali on ne. – She likes dancing, but he doesn’t.)

Why is it voli and pleše, not something like voli / pleši or voli / pleša? How are these verbs conjugated?

Both verbs are in 3rd person singular, present tense:

voljeti (to love/like) → voli (he/she loves/likes)
- ja volim
- ti voliš
- on/ona/ono voli
- mi volimo
- vi volite
- oni/one/ona vole
plesati (to dance) → pleše (he/she dances)
- ja plešem
- ti plešeš
- on/ona/ono pleše
- mi plešemo
- vi plešete
- oni/one/ona plešu

So voli and pleše are just regular present‑tense forms for ona (she).

In English we distinguish “likes” vs “loves”. Does voli mean “likes” or “loves” here?

voljeti generally means “to love”, but in everyday speech it’s also used where English would say “to like”:

Volim kavu. – I like coffee.
Volim te. – I love you.

In this sentence ona voli ples is naturally understood as “she likes (or loves) dancing”. English translation usually depends on how strong you want the feeling to sound; Croatian itself doesn’t strictly force one or the other here.

Could I translate često pleše as “is often dancing” as well as “often dances”? Does Croatian make that distinction?

Croatian has only one present tense, which covers both English present simple and present continuous.

So često pleše can be translated as:

“she often dances”, or
“she is often dancing”.

The choice in English is stylistic; in Croatian, it’s just present tense.

Why is često placed before pleše? Could I say Ona pleše često?

Default word order is:

Ona često pleše…
or without the pronoun: Često pleše…

That sounds most natural.

You can say Ona pleše često, but it has a slight change in rhythm/emphasis and is much less common. In neutral, everyday speech, place frequency adverbs like često (often), rijetko (rarely), uvijek (always) before the verb:

Ona uvijek pleše.
On rijetko pleše.
Oni često plešu.

Why is it s prijateljicama and not sa prijateljicama? When do we use s vs sa?

s and sa are two forms of the same preposition meaning “with”.

The basic form is s.
sa is used:
- before certain consonant clusters, to make pronunciation easier, or
- for emphasis or stylistic variation.

Both s prijateljicama and sa prijateljicama are correct and used.
In careful standard language, you’ll more often see s prijateljicama, but in everyday speech sa prijateljicama is also very common and perfectly acceptable.

Why is it prijateljicama and not prijateljice or prijateljica?

This is about case and number:

The preposition s/sa (“with”) requires the instrumental case.
prijateljica = a (female) friend (nominative singular)
prijateljice = female friends (nominative plural)
prijateljicama = with (female) friends (instrumental plural)

Pattern for prijateljica (female friend):

Nominative singular: prijateljica
Nominative plural: prijateljice
Instrumental plural: prijateljicama

So s prijateljicama literally means “with (female) friends” in the instrumental plural.

What’s the difference between prijateljicama and prijateljima?

Both mean “(with) friends”, but they differ in gender:

prijateljicama = instrumental plural of prijateljica
- specifically female friends
- s prijateljicama = with (female) friends
prijateljima = instrumental plural of prijatelj
- male or mixed‑gender group of friends
- s prijateljima = with (male/mixed) friends

So your sentence tells us she usually dances with female friends.

Could I say Ona voli da pleše s prijateljicama instead of voli ples i često pleše s prijateljicama?

Native speakers almost never say voli da pleše in this meaning.
Typical Croatian ways to express “she likes/loves to dance” are:

Ona voli ples.
Ona voli plesati.

The construction voljeti + da + verb is generally avoided in this context.
Use voli plesati or voli ples rather than voli da pleše.

Why does the verb form voli / pleše not change for masculine vs feminine? Shouldn’t there be a special feminine ending?

In the present tense, verb endings do not change for grammatical gender:

On voli ples. – He likes/loves dance.
Ona voli ples. – She likes/loves dance.

Both use voli.

Gender shows up in:

past tense forms (e.g. on je plesao, ona je plesala)
some adjectives and pronouns (e.g. dobar prijatelj vs dobra prijateljica)

But in the present tense, verbs only change for person and number, not gender.

Can I omit i često pleše and just say Ona voli ples s prijateljicama?

You can say Ona voli ples s prijateljicama, but the meaning shifts slightly:

Ona voli ples i često pleše s prijateljicama.
- She loves dancing and (in fact) often dances with her friends.
Ona voli ples s prijateljicama.
- She loves (the) dancing with her friends / she enjoys that type of dance situation.

The original sentence clearly states a habitual action (“often dances”).
If you remove i često pleše, you’re talking more about her liking that particular kind of dancing (with her friends), rather than the frequency of the action.

Could ples ever mean a specific dance event, like “a dance” or “a ball”?

Yes. ples can mean:

dance as an activity in general
- Voli ples. – She likes/loves dance/dancing.
a dance event / ball / formal party
- Idemo večeras na ples. – We’re going to a dance/ball tonight.

In Ona voli ples i često pleše s prijateljicama, context points to “dance” as an activity, not a specific event, unless the wider context says otherwise.

Is the overall word order fixed, or could I rearrange parts of the sentence?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, but changes often add emphasis. All of these are grammatically possible:

Ona voli ples i često pleše s prijateljicama. (neutral)
Ona često pleše s prijateljicama i voli ples. (slightly different focus)
Često pleše s prijateljicama i voli ples. (drops the pronoun)

However, big rearrangements can sound unnatural or change emphasis in ways that feel odd to natives. For a neutral, natural sentence, the original order is excellent.