Learn Hardcore Croatian: On se tušira navečer. - He takes a shower in the evening.

On se tušira navečer. = He showers (himself) in the evening.
If you drop se and say On tušira navečer, it sounds like “He showers (someone/something) in the evening”, but the object is missing, so the sentence is incomplete or wrong.

So se is necessary here to show that the subject is doing the action to himself.

Where exactly does se go in the sentence? Could I say On tušira se navečer?

No, On tušira se navečer is incorrect.

se is a clitic (an unstressed short word) and Croatian tries to place clitics in “second position” in the clause, right after the first stressed word.

Correct and natural orders include:

On se tušira navečer.
On se navečer tušira.
Navečer se tušira.

But:

On tušira se navečer. – unnatural / incorrect.

So in this sentence, se must come right after On, or after Navečer if you start with that word.

Can we leave out On and just say Se tušira navečer?

You can leave out On, but you cannot start the sentence with se.

Correct:

Tušira se navečer. – “He/She showers in the evening.” (The subject “he/she” is understood from the verb form tušira.)

Incorrect:

Se tušira navečer. – Clitics like se are not allowed at the very beginning of the sentence.

So:

With subject pronoun: On se tušira navečer.
Without subject pronoun: Tušira se navečer.

Does On se tušira navečer mean it’s happening right now or that he usually does it in the evenings?

It can mean either, depending on context. Croatian has only one present tense, which covers both:

“He showers in the evening (as a habit).”
“He is showering in the evening (today).” – if the context makes this clear, e.g. “Not in the morning, he is showering in the evening.”

To emphasize the habitual meaning, you can add words like:

On se tušira svake večeri. – “He showers every evening.”

What is the difference between navečer and večer / večeri / uvečer?

All are related to “evening”, but they behave differently:

večer – noun, “evening”:
- ove večeri – this evening
- svaku večer – every evening
navečer – adverb, “in the evening / in the evenings” (time of day, often habitual):
- On se tušira navečer. – He (typically) showers in the evening.
uvečer – also an adverb, similar to navečer, but used less frequently and often sounds a bit more formal or regional.

In a simple sentence like yours, navečer is the most common and natural choice.

Why is it navečer (one word) and not na večer (two words)?

navečer is a fixed adverb that historically comes from na + večer, but in modern standard Croatian it’s written as one word and treated like a single adverb meaning “in the evening / at night (time of day)”.

You might occasionally see na večer in older texts or dialects, but navečer is the standard and recommended form.

Can we change the word order, for example to On navečer se tušira or Navečer se on tušira?

Croatian word order is flexible, but not every permutation is equally natural.

These are common and natural:

On se tušira navečer. – neutral: “He showers in the evening.”
On se navečer tušira. – still quite neutral.
Navečer se tušira. – “In the evening he showers.” (slight focus on when.)
Navečer se on tušira. – emphasizes on (“he in particular”), e.g. in contrast to someone else.

Less natural / wrong:

On navečer se tušira. – feels awkward because se is pushed too far from its preferred “second position”.

So yes, you can move words around, but you must respect the clitic position and be aware that word order changes emphasis.

How would the sentence change if the subject were female or plural?

You change only the pronoun and the verb ending; se and navečer stay the same:

Feminine singular:
- Ona se tušira navečer. – She showers in the evening.
Masculine plural (group of males or mixed group):
- Oni se tuširaju navečer. – They shower in the evening.
Feminine plural:
- One se tuširaju navečer. – They (women) shower in the evening.

Without pronouns (more typical in everyday speech):

Tušira se navečer. – He/She showers in the evening.
Tuširaju se navečer. – They shower in the evening.

What is the infinitive of tušira and how is the verb conjugated?

The infinitive is tuširati se – “to shower (oneself)”.

Present tense (with the reflexive se):

ja se tuširam – I shower
ti se tuširaš – you (sg.) shower
on/ona/ono se tušira – he/she/it showers
mi se tuširamo – we shower
vi se tuširate – you (pl./formal) shower
oni/one/ona se tuširaju – they shower

Your sentence uses on se tušira – 3rd person singular.

Is there a perfective form of tuširati se, and how would that change the meaning?

Yes. The common perfective counterpart is istuširati se.

tuširati se – imperfective: focuses on the process or habit of showering.
- On se tušira navečer. – He (usually) showers in the evening.
istuširati se – perfective: focuses on a single, completed act of showering.
- On će se istuširati navečer. – He will take a shower in the evening (one specific time).

Note: In the present tense, perfective verbs usually have a future meaning:

On se istušira navečer. – more like “He’ll shower in the evening” (planned / scheduled future), not a habitual action.

How do you pronounce tušira and navečer?

Approximate pronunciation (in English terms):

tušira – [tu-SHI-ra]
- u like “oo” in “book” (shorter)
- š like “sh” in “shoe”
- stress usually on the šu syllable: tu-ŠI-ra
navečer – [NA-ve-cher]
- a like “a” in “father”
- e like “e” in “bed”
- č like “ch” in “church”
- stress on the first syllable: NA-ve-čer

Is there a difference between On se tušira navečer and On se pere navečer?

Yes:

On se tušira navečer. – He showers in the evening (specifically under a shower).
On se pere navečer. – He washes himself in the evening (more general: could be at a sink, in a basin, etc., not necessarily a shower).

prati se / prati se (from prati) is a more general “to wash (oneself)”, while tuširati se is specifically “to shower”.