Learn Hardcore Croatian: Moramo odlučiti hoćemo li platiti stanarinu gotovinom ili kreditnom karticom. - We have to decide whether we will pay the rent in cash or by credit card.

Trebamo (from trebati) is closer to we need to / we should. It’s usually a bit softer, more like a recommendation or necessity, while moramo sounds stronger and more obligatory.

Moramo odlučiti… – We must decide (there is a clear obligation).
Trebamo odlučiti… – We should / need to decide (it’s a good idea or necessary, but can sound less strict).

Both are grammatically correct here; the choice is about how strong you want the obligation to sound.

What exactly is hoćemo li, and why do we need li?

Hoćemo is 1st person plural of htjeti = to want (and also related to the auxiliary will in the future tense).
Li is a question particle used to form yes/no questions and indirect questions. It often corresponds to English whether or if.

Structure here:

hoćemo li platiti…
Literally: do we want (to) pay… / will we pay…
Functionally in this sentence: it introduces an embedded yes/no choice, so overall it means whether (we will / we want to) pay…

In indirect questions:

Ne znam hoćemo li doći. – I don’t know whether we’ll come.

So li is needed to turn hoćemo platiti into whether we will/want to pay.

Is hoćemo li platiti expressing future (will pay) or desire (want to pay)?

It can lean either way depending on context, but here it is mainly about a decision regarding the future, so it’s close to whether we will pay (in this way or that way).

In general:

htjeti + infinitive often means to want to do something:
- Hoćemo platiti sada. – We want to pay now.
But in questions and decisions about future actions, it can overlap with the idea of shall/will:
- Hoćemo li platiti karticom? – Shall we / Will we pay by card?

In English we usually simplify the whole Croatian clause hoćemo li platiti stanarinu… to whether to pay the rent…, even though the Croatian clause is finite (with hoćemo).

Why is it stanarinu and not stanarina? What case is that?

The base noun is stanarina (rent), a feminine noun.

Here it appears as stanarinu because:

It is the direct object of platiti (to pay).
Direct objects of transitive verbs are in the accusative case.

Feminine nouns ending in -a typically have:

Nominative singular: -a → stanarina
Accusative singular: -u → stanarinu

Examples:

Kupujem knjigu. – I am buying a book. (knjiga → knjigu)
Plaćam stanarinu. – I am paying the rent. (stanarina → stanarinu)

So stanarinu is the accusative form required by platiti.

Why is there no preposition like za before stanarinu? In English we say “pay for the rent”.

In Croatian, the verb platiti already includes the meaning pay for.
Therefore, the thing you pay for simply goes directly into the accusative, with no preposition:

Platiti račun. – To pay (for) the bill.
Platiti kartu. – To pay (for) the ticket.
Platiti stanarinu. – To pay (for) the rent.

If you say platiti za stanarinu, it usually sounds unnecessary or odd. The preposition za is not used after platiti when you name the thing being paid for.

What case are gotovinom and kreditnom karticom, and what do those endings mean?

Both gotovinom and kreditnom karticom are in the instrumental singular.

The instrumental case is often used to express means or instrument – how/with what something is done:

platiti gotovinom – to pay in cash / with cash
platiti kreditnom karticom – to pay by credit card / with a credit card

Forms:

gotovina (cash) → gotovinom (instrumental sing.)
kreditna kartica (credit card) →
- noun: karticom (instrumental sing.)
- adjective: kreditna → kreditnom (it must agree in gender, number, and case with karticom)

The typical feminine instrumental ending here is -om (for both the noun and its adjective).

Could we also say u gotovini or s kreditnom karticom instead of gotovinom and kreditnom karticom?

Yes, there are a few natural variants:

platiti gotovinom
platiti u gotovini

Both are common and mean to pay in cash. Gotovinom (bare instrumental) is slightly more concise; u gotovini literally means in cash.

With cards, you will hear:

platiti kreditnom karticom
platiti karticom (if it’s clear you mean a bank card)
platiti s karticom is also heard in everyday speech.

Using s (with) + instrumental slightly emphasizes “with the help of this thing”, but in practice platiti karticom and platiti s karticom are both understood as pay by card. The version without s (kreditnom karticom) is perfectly standard and very common.

Why is the verb platiti used instead of plaćati?

This is about aspect, a key feature of Croatian verbs.

platiti – perfective: a single, complete act of paying.
plaćati – imperfective: ongoing, repeated, or habitual paying.

In this sentence, the focus is on one concrete future payment and choosing how to make it (cash or card), so the perfective platiti is appropriate.

Compare:

Obično plaćamo stanarinu 1. u mjesecu. – We usually pay the rent on the 1st of the month. (habit, repeated action → plaćamo)
Moramo odlučiti hoćemo li platiti stanarinu gotovinom ili karticom. – decision about how to make this payment → platiti.

Can we change the word order inside the clause, for example hoćemo li stanarinu platiti gotovinom?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, especially once cases clearly mark who does what to whom.

Some possible variants:

Moramo odlučiti hoćemo li platiti stanarinu gotovinom ili kreditnom karticom. (neutral)
Moramo odlučiti hoćemo li stanarinu platiti gotovinom ili kreditnom karticom.
Moramo odlučiti hoćemo li stanarinu platiti kreditnom karticom ili gotovinom.

They are all grammatical. Changing the order can slightly change the emphasis:

Moving stanarinu before platiti (stanarinu platiti) can put more focus on stanarinu.
Swapping gotovinom and kreditnom karticom emphasizes whichever comes last as the more salient option.

What you cannot do is separate tightly bound elements in unnatural ways, e.g. splitting kreditnom from karticom, or putting li somewhere other than right after the first stressed element (here the verb hoćemo).

Could we use da li instead of just li in this sentence?

Yes, in everyday Croatian many speakers would say:

Moramo odlučiti da li ćemo platiti stanarinu gotovinom ili kreditnom karticom.

Here the structure changes slightly:

da li functions together, a bit like English whether.
After da li, the clitic ćemo typically comes in second position: da li ćemo platiti…

Compared:

Moramo odlučiti hoćemo li platiti… (more concise, stylistically a bit more standard in Croatian).
Moramo odlučiti da li ćemo platiti… (very common in speech and informal writing; some style guides prefer avoiding da li in more formal Croatian).

Why is ili used only once? Can we say ili gotovinom ili kreditnom karticom?

Croatian ili = or. One ili between two options is completely normal:

gotovinom ili kreditnom karticom – in cash or by credit card

You can also say:

ili gotovinom ili kreditnom karticom

This adds extra emphasis, similar to either in cash or by credit card in English. Both versions are correct; the original with a single ili is the default, neutral choice.