Learn Hardcore Croatian: Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu, radeći vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije. - Listening to music and the birds in the garden, doing exercises, we feel more relaxed.

Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu, radeći vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije.

Listening to music and the birds in the garden, doing exercises, we feel more relaxed.

Breakdown of Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu, radeći vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije.

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Questions & Answers about Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu, radeći vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije.

What grammatical form are slušajući and radeći? Are they gerunds?

They are not gerunds in the English sense; they are present adverbial participles in Croatian, called glagolski prilog sadašnji.

slušajući comes from slušati (to listen)
radeći comes from raditi (to do/work)

They describe an action happening at the same time as the main verb (osjećamo se) and answer “how/while doing what?”:

Slušajući glazbu… osjećamo se opuštenije.
→ While listening to music… we feel more relaxed.
Radeći vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije.
→ By doing exercises, we feel more relaxed.

So they behave more like English “listening / while listening”, “doing / while doing” used adverbially, not like nouns (listening to music is fun).

Who is doing the actions in slušajući and radeći? Is the subject the same as for osjećamo se?

Yes. In Croatian, adverbial participles must share the subject with the main clause.

Here the (implied) subject of osjećamo se is mi (we). So:

Mi slušamo glazbu i ptice u vrtu.
Mi radimo vježbe.
Mi se osjećamo opuštenije.

All three actions are done by the same subject (we). You cannot use this structure if the participle and the main clause have different subjects; that would sound wrong or confusing in Croatian.

Can I rewrite this sentence using normal “full” clauses instead of these participles?

Yes. A very natural rewrite is with dok (while):

Dok slušamo glazbu i ptice u vrtu i dok radimo vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije.

You could also drop the second dok:

Dok slušamo glazbu i ptice u vrtu i radimo vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije.

Meaning stays the same; the participle version just sounds more compact and a bit more “literary” or “written”.

Why is there a comma after Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu and after radeći vježbe?

In Croatian, adverbial participle phrases like slušajući… and radeći… are usually treated as separate clauses and set off by commas.

Here we have two such phrases in front of the main clause:

Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu,
radeći vježbe,
osjećamo se opuštenije.

So commas separate:

the first participle phrase from the second
the combined participle phrases from the main clause.

You could also merge them slightly and write:

Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu i radeći vježbe, osjećamo se opuštenije.

Here you have only one comma (before the main clause).

What cases are glazbu, ptice, and vrtu in, and why?

glazbu – accusative singular
- dictionary form: glazba (feminine, -a noun)
- feminine -a nouns have -u in the accusative singular:
  - glazba → glazbu (I hear music → Čujem glazbu.)
ptice – accusative plural
- dictionary form: ptica (feminine)
- feminine -a nouns have -e in the accusative plural:
  - ptice = “birds” (object of slušajući)
vrtu – locative singular
- dictionary form: vrt (masculine)
- after the preposition u meaning “in” (location), we use locative:
  - u vrtu = “in the garden”

So structurally:

slušajući što? → glazbu (accusative)
slušajući što? → ptice (accusative)
ptice gdje? → u vrtu (locative after u)

Why is it glazbu and not glazba? I thought the basic form ends in -a.

The basic dictionary form glazba is nominative singular.
In this sentence, glazbu is the direct object of slušajući, so it must be accusative singular.

For feminine -a nouns:

nominative sg: glazba
accusative sg: glazbu

Other examples:

Imam mačka. – I have a cat. → mačka (acc. sg)
Čitam knjigu. – I’m reading a book. → knjigu (acc. sg)

So slušajući glazbu = listening to music (music is the thing being listened to).

What is the function of se in osjećamo se? Could we just say osjećamo opuštenije?

se turns osjećati into a reflexive verb: osjećati se = to feel (a certain way).

osjećati se (kako?) → opuštenije
to feel (how?) → more relaxed

Without se, osjećati usually means to feel something (as an object):

Osjećam bol. – I feel pain. (no se)
Osjećam da je nešto krivo. – I feel (that) something is wrong.

So:

Osjećamo se opuštenije. – We feel more relaxed. (state)
Osjećamo opuštenije. – ungrammatical / doesn’t work in Croatian

For emotional or physical states (“tired, good, bad, relaxed”), you basically always use osjećati se + adjective/adverb.

Why is it osjećamo se opuštenije instead of osućamo se opušteno or opušteniji? What exactly is opuštenije here?

opuštenije is the comparative form of opušteno / opušten (“relaxed, calmly”).

You’re implying a comparison (“more relaxed” than before, than usual, etc.), so Croatian uses the comparative:

opušteno – relaxed(ly)
opuštenije – more relaxed / in a more relaxed way

Possible patterns:

Osjećamo se opušteno. – We feel relaxed. (no comparison)
Osjećamo se opuštenije. – We feel more relaxed. (comparative)

You could also use the comparative adjective:

Osjećamo se opušteniji (nego jučer). – We feel more relaxed (than yesterday).

In everyday speech, osjećati se + comparative form (opuštenije, bolje, lošije) is very common:

Osjećam se bolje. – I feel better.
Osjećam se lošije. – I feel worse.
Osjećamo se opuštenije. – We feel more relaxed.

Is se in the right place? Could I say Mi se osjećamo opuštenije instead?

Yes, Mi se osjećamo opuštenije is also correct.

The rule: se is a clitic – a short, unstressed word that usually goes in “second position” in the clause. In your original sentence:

osjećamo se opuštenije

the first word of the clause is osjećamo, so se comes right after it.

If you add mi:

Mi se osjećamo opuštenije. – We feel more relaxed.

Now Mi is first, so se comes right after Mi. Both orders (Mi se osjećamo… / Osjećamo se…) are normal; the choice slightly affects emphasis, not grammar.

How flexible is the word order in slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu? Could I say slušajući u vrtu glazbu i ptice?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and both are possible:

Slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu…
Slušajući u vrtu glazbu i ptice…

The default, most neutral version is probably the original: slušajući glazbu i ptice u vrtu, where u vrtu is most naturally felt as modifying ptice (the birds are in the garden).

The second version slušajući u vrtu glazbu i ptice makes u vrtu stand out a bit more as the general place of listening (we are in the garden).

Both are grammatically fine; small differences are mostly about focus and rhythm.

What case is vrtu in exactly, and when do I use that form?

vrtu is locative singular of vrt.

The form vrtu appears:

mostly after prepositions like u (in), na (on), o (about) when they indicate location or topic:

Examples:

u vrtu – in the garden
na stolu – on the table
o poslu – about work

So in your sentence, u vrtu answers where? and uses locative: vrtu.

What exactly does radeći vježbe mean, and why is vježbe plural?

radeći vježbe = doing exercises.

raditi – to do
radeći – (while) doing
vježba – exercise (singular)
vježbe – exercises (plural, nominative/accusative)

Here vježbe is accusative plural (direct object of radeći):

raditi što? – vježbe

Plural is natural because people usually do several exercises, not just one. You could say:

radeći vježbu – doing (one) exercise

if you specifically meant a single exercise, but vježbe is more general and more typical in this context.