Learn Hardcore Croatian: On želi prestati pušiti cigarete prije ljeta i biti zdraviji. - He wants to stop smoking cigarettes before summer and be healthier.

You can absolutely leave it out. Croatian is a pro‑drop language, so subject pronouns are often omitted when the verb ending already shows the person.

On želi prestati pušiti cigarete prije ljeta i biti zdraviji.
Želi prestati pušiti cigarete prije ljeta i biti zdraviji. ✅

Both are correct. Including On can:

add emphasis (e.g. On wants to, as opposed to someone else), or
sound slightly more explicit/neutral in an isolated sentence (like in textbooks).

In a normal conversation, after the subject is clear from context, you would very often just say Želi prestati…

What is the difference between želi and hoće?

Both relate to wanting, but they differ in tone and typical usage:

želi = wants, wishes
- a bit more neutral or polite
- common in both spoken and written Croatian
- works well for goals, wishes, plans
- On želi prestati pušiti. – He wants to stop smoking.
hoće = wants, is willing to
- can sound more direct, sometimes more colloquial or even stubborn depending on context
- also part of the future tense auxiliary će (not the same usage)
- On hoće prestati pušiti. – He wants (is determined) to stop smoking.

In your sentence, želi is perfectly natural and slightly more neutral than hoće.

Why is it želi prestati pušiti – two infinitives in a row? Is that normal in Croatian?

Yes, that structure is very normal. Croatian often has:

modal / volitional verb + infinitive (+ another infinitive)

Here’s the breakdown:

želi – he wants (3rd person singular, present)
prestati – to stop (infinitive, perfective)
pušiti – to smoke (infinitive, imperfective)

So literally it is:

He wants / to stop / to smoke…

That’s why you see two infinitives in a row: the first (prestati) depends on želi, and the second (pušiti) depends on prestati.

This is similar to English “He wants to stop smoking” (want → stop → smoke), just that Croatian uses infinitive twice in a row instead of a -ing form.

Could I say On želi da prestane pušiti cigarete instead of On želi prestati pušiti cigarete?

In standard Croatian, On želi prestati pušiti cigarete is clearly preferred.

The structure with da:

On želi da prestane pušiti cigarete.

is much more characteristic of Serbian and regional speech. Many Croatians will understand it, and some will use it colloquially or regionally, but in formal/standard Croatian you should avoid želi da + verb in this context and stick to želi + infinitive:

On želi prestati pušiti cigarete. ✅ (standard)
On želi da prestane pušiti cigarete. ⚠️ (regional / Serbian-like)

What’s the difference between prestati pušiti and prestati s pušenjem?

Both basically mean “to stop smoking”, but they differ in form and style:

prestati pušiti
- verb + infinitive
- very common, neutral, everyday Croatian
- On želi prestati pušiti.
prestati s pušenjem
- verb + preposition + verbal noun
- a little more formal or “bookish” in everyday speech
- On želi prestati s pušenjem.

Meaning-wise they are equivalent; the version in your sentence, prestati pušiti, is the more natural choice in most contexts.

Why is it cigarete and not something like cigareta? What form is this?

Cigarete is:

accusative plural of cigareta (a cigarette).

The base form (nominative singular) is:

(jedna) cigareta – one cigarette
(više) cigareta – more cigarettes (nominative plural)
(pušiti) cigarete – to smoke cigarettes (accusative plural)

In Croatian, the direct object of a verb is generally in the accusative case. Since he is smoking cigarettes (plural), you use the plural accusative:

pušiti cigarete – to smoke cigarettes.

So cigarete = “cigarettes” as the thing he smokes (direct object).

Is it necessary to say pušiti cigarete, or can I just say pušiti?

You can leave out cigarete if the context is clear:

On želi prestati pušiti prije ljeta. – He wants to stop smoking before summer.

Often pušiti by default implies “smoke cigarettes” unless you specify something else (e.g. pušiti lulu – smoke a pipe).

Adding cigarete:

makes it more explicit,
can sound slightly more emphatic or specific,
may be useful for learners to connect vocabulary.

Both versions are correct; the meaning is essentially the same here.

Why do we say prije ljeta and not prije ljeto?

Because the preposition prije (“before”) in Croatian always governs the genitive case.

ljeto – summer (nominative singular)
ljeta – of (the) summer (genitive singular)

After prije, you must use genitive:

prije ljeta – before (the) summer
prije posla – before work
prije ručka – before lunch

So prije ljeto is ungrammatical; the correct form is prije ljeta.

Can I move prije ljeta to another position, like in English? Does the meaning change?

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and you can move prije ljeta around for emphasis or style, without changing the basic meaning.

Some natural variants:

On želi prestati pušiti cigarete prije ljeta i biti zdraviji.
On želi prije ljeta prestati pušiti cigarete i biti zdraviji.
Prije ljeta on želi prestati pušiti cigarete i biti zdraviji.

Subtle differences:

Version 1: most neutral, time phrase at the end.
Version 2: slightly emphasizes “before summer” as a condition/goal for the action of stopping.
Version 3: strongly emphasizes the time frame (“As for before summer, he wants to…”).

All are grammatically correct. In isolation, version 1 (your original) is the most textbook‑neutral.

What exactly does zdraviji mean, and from which adjective is it formed?

Zdraviji is the comparative form of the adjective zdrav (“healthy”).

zdrav – healthy
zdraviji – healthier

In your sentence:

…i biti zdraviji. – and to be healthier.

This usually means “healthier than he is now” unless another comparison is explicitly given.

Formation:

For many adjectives ending in a consonant, Croatian forms the comparative with -iji or -iji/-ji:
- mlad → mlađi – young → younger
- zdrav → zdraviji – healthy → healthier

You could also say:

…i biti zdrav. – and to be healthy (no comparison, just the state).

But zdraviji underlines an improvement in health.

Could I say …i da bude zdraviji instead of …i biti zdraviji?

Both are understandable, but they are not equally standard.

…i biti zdraviji. ✅
- keeps the same infinitive structure as prestati pušiti
- fully standard and stylistically neat in Croatian
…i da bude zdraviji. ⚠️
- grammatically possible, but mixes infinitive (prestati pušiti) with a da‑clause (da bude zdraviji)
- feels more colloquial or Serbian-like in style

In standard Croatian, when you coordinate two intentions with the same subject, it is cleaner and more natural to keep both as infinitives:

…prestati pušiti cigarete prije ljeta i biti zdraviji.

Why is there no comma before i in this sentence?

Because i (“and”) is simply joining two infinitive phrases with the same subject and verb:

(On želi) [prestati pušiti cigarete prije ljeta] i [biti zdraviji].

In Croatian:

When i connects two parts of the same grammatical function (e.g. two infinitives, two nouns, two adjectives) with the same subject and verb, you do not put a comma before i.
- Kupio je kruh i mlijeko. – He bought bread and milk.
- Želi prestati pušiti i biti zdraviji.

You would use a comma if i were joining independent clauses that each have their own subject and verb, and the structure calls for it, but that’s not the case here.

What aspect is prestati, and how is it different from prestajati?

Prestati is perfective, while prestajati is the imperfective counterpart.

prestati – to stop (as a completed action, point in time)
- On želi prestati pušiti. – He wants to stop smoking (once, to reach that point).
prestajati – to be stopping / to stop repeatedly / process of stopping
- On prestaje pušiti. – He is (in the process of) stopping smoking.
- On je često prestajao pa opet počinjao. – He often stopped and then started again.

In your sentence, the goal is a single completed change (he wants to reach a state of not smoking anymore), so the perfective prestati is exactly right.

Is the pronunciation of lj in ljeta like the English “ly” in “million”?

It’s close, but not exactly the same.

lj in Croatian is a single consonant sound /ʎ/, like the “lli” in some pronunciations of million (more palatal), or the “gli” in Italian famiglia.
To pronounce it:
- place your tongue against the hard palate (behind your upper teeth),
- let the air flow around the sides of the tongue,
- say something between “l” and “y” at the same time.

So ljeta sounds approximately like:

LYE-ta (two syllables)

But make sure it is one consonant lj, not two separate sounds l + j.