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Plešući u parku po kiši, djeca se smiju kao da je ljeto.

Plešući u parku po kiši, djeca se smiju kao da je ljeto.
Dancing in the park in the rain, the children laugh as if it were summer.

Breakdown of Plešući u parku po kiši, djeca se smiju kao da je ljeto.

biti
to be
u
in
kiša
rain
park
park
dijete
child
ljeto
summer
kao da
as if
smijati se
to laugh
plesati
to dance
po
in
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Questions & Answers about Plešući u parku po kiši, djeca se smiju kao da je ljeto.

What does Plešući mean grammatically, and how is it formed?

Plešući is a present adverbial participle (Croatian: glagolski prilog sadašnji). It means “while dancing / by dancing” and describes an action happening at the same time as the main verb.

It’s formed from the present stem of an imperfective verb, here plesati (to dance), by adding -ći:

  • plesa-
    • -ći → plešući

It doesn’t change for gender/number/case (it’s indeclinable).

Does Plešući u parku po kiši modify djeca or the whole sentence?

It modifies the main action of the sentence (djeca se smiju) by giving the circumstance: the children are laughing while they are dancing (and where/how: in the park, in the rain). Semantically it’s connected to djeca, but grammatically it functions as an adverbial modifier of the main verb.

Why is there a comma after po kiši?

Because the participial phrase Plešući u parku po kiši is an introductory adverbial phrase placed before the main clause. Croatian commonly sets off such fronted phrases with a comma, similar to English:

  • Dancing in the park in the rain, the children are laughing…
Why is it u parku and not something like u park?

u parku uses locative case, which answers where? (location):

  • u parku = in the park (location)

If it were movement into the park, it would typically use accusative:

  • u park = (go) into the park
What case is parku and how do I recognize it?

parku is locative singular of park. Many masculine inanimate nouns have the locative ending -u:

  • park (nom.) → u parku (loc.)

You often see locative after prepositions like u, na, o, po (in certain meanings).

Why does it say po kiši instead of u kiši?

Both can be possible in different contexts, but po kiši is a very common idiomatic way to mean “in the rain / while it’s raining”, focusing on the circumstance of weather during the activity.

Grammatically, po here takes the locative:

  • kiša (nom.) → kiši (loc.)
Is kiši also locative, and why does it end in -i?

Yes, kiši is locative singular of the feminine noun kiša (rain). Many feminine nouns ending in -a form locative singular with -i:

  • kiša → (po) kiši
  • škola → u školi
What does se smiju mean, and why is se there?

smiju se means “they laugh”. The verb smijati se is a reflexive verb in Croatian: it normally appears with se, and se is not optional in standard usage.

In this sentence the word order is inverted:

  • more neutral: djeca se smiju
  • also possible: djeca smiju se (less common/marked)

So se is part of the verb structure, not a separate object like English themselves.

Why is it smiju and not smijaju?

The standard present tense of smijati se is:

  • ja smijem se
  • ti smiješ se
  • on/ona smije se
  • mi smijemo se
  • vi smijete se
  • oni/one smiju se

You may hear colloquial or regional variants, but smiju (se) is the standard 3rd person plural form.

What is the function of kao da?

kao da introduces a comparison that means “as if / as though”. It often triggers a clause that describes an unreal, imagined, or contrary-to-fact situation.

So kao da je ljeto = as if it were summer (even though it’s actually raining).

Why is it je ljeto (present tense) instead of a conditional like bi bilo?

After kao da, Croatian commonly uses the present tense (or past) even when English uses “were/was” or a more “unreal” form. So:

  • kao da je ljeto is a very normal Croatian way to express as if it were summer

You can also see more explicitly hypothetical options depending on style and meaning, but the present tense here is idiomatic and fully correct.

Why does ljeto have no article, and why is it ljeto (not ljeta etc.)?

Croatian has no articles (no “a/the”), so ljeto appears without one.

Here ljeto is nominative singular because it functions as the subject complement after je (is):

  • je ljeto = it is summer

The implied subject is something like (it)—Croatian often omits that.

Is the word order flexible here? Could I rearrange the sentence?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, but changes can affect emphasis. For example:

  • Djeca se smiju plešući u parku po kiši, kao da je ljeto.
    (focus more on djeca se smiju first)

  • Plešući po kiši u parku, djeca se smiju kao da je ljeto.
    (same meaning; slightly different rhythm)

The given version is natural and stylistically vivid because it foregrounds the scene (dancing… in the rain).