Learn Hardcore Croatian: Tjestenina mu je draža od riže, pa uvijek bira tjesteninu za ručak. - Pasta is dearer to him than rice, so he always chooses pasta for lunch.

Tjestenina mu je draža = Pasta is dearer/more liked to him/her → He/She prefers pasta.
English expresses this with a subject like he/she:
- He prefers pasta to rice.
Croatian often uses a structure like X mu je draži/draža/draže = X is dearer to him/her.

You can omit mu only if the context already makes it crystal clear whose preference you’re talking about, but normally you keep it.

Why is it draža and not draži or draže?

Draža is the feminine singular comparative form of the adjective drag (dear, liked).

Adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:

tjestenina – feminine singular, nominative
So the comparative form must also be feminine singular: draža

Other forms:

draži – masculine singular (e.g. kruh mi je draži – bread is dearer to me)
draže – neuter singular (e.g. mlijeko mi je draže – milk is dearer to me)

So:
Tjestenina mu je draža = Pasta is dearer to him (he prefers pasta).

Why is it od riže after draža, and not something like nego riža?

In Croatian, comparison using draži/draža/draže is usually made with od + genitive:

draža od riže = dearer than rice

Od is a preposition that normally takes the genitive case, so riža (rice) becomes riže (genitive).

You will most often see:

draži/draža/draže od + genitive
- Tjestenina mi je draža od riže.
With bolji/lošiji/veći/manji, you can see both od and nego, but od is more common in many comparisons:
- veći od njega = bigger than him
- veći nego on = bigger than he (more formal/contrastive)

For this sentence, draža od riže is the natural, standard way to say preferred to rice.

What case are tjestenina, tjesteninu and riže, and why are they different?

tjestenina – nominative singular (subject of the sentence)
- Tjestenina mu je draža… → Pasta is dearer to him.
tjesteninu – accusative singular (direct object of bira = chooses)
- …uvijek bira tjesteninu za ručak. → he always chooses pasta for lunch.
riže – genitive singular, after the preposition od for comparison
- draža od riže = dearer than rice.

So in short:

Subject → nominative (tjestenina)
Object of the verb bira → accusative (tjesteninu)
After od in a comparison → genitive (riže)

Why do we repeat tjesteninu in the second part? Could we say pa je uvijek bira za ručak instead?

Repeating tjesteninu is completely natural in Croatian and sounds clear and neutral:

…pa uvijek bira tjesteninu za ručak.
= …so he always chooses pasta for lunch.

You can replace it with a pronoun:

…pa je uvijek bira za ručak.
- je – unstressed pronoun (clitic) = her/it (accusative, feminine)
- bira – chooses
  → literally: so he always chooses it for lunch.

Both are grammatically correct. The version with tjesteninu is more explicit; the version with je is more like English so he always chooses it when it’s very clear from context what it is.

What is the function of pa here, and could we just use a period instead?

Pa is a coordinating conjunction. In this sentence, it means roughly so or and therefore:

Tjestenina mu je draža od riže, pa uvijek bira tjesteninu za ručak.
= He prefers pasta to rice, so he always chooses pasta for lunch.

You could also write:

Tjestenina mu je draža od riže. Uvijek bira tjesteninu za ručak.

That’s fine, but the version with pa makes the causal link (because he prefers it, he chooses it) a bit smoother and more explicit.

Other similar connectors:

zato / zato što – because
zato (as a connector on its own) is rarer in this exact place; pa is more natural here.

Why is it uvijek bira tjesteninu, and not tjesteninu uvijek bira or some other word order?

Croatian word order is quite flexible, but neutral and very common in this type of sentence is:

(On) uvijek bira tjesteninu za ručak.
- (On) – he (often dropped)
- uvijek – always
- bira – chooses
- tjesteninu – pasta
- za ručak – for lunch

You could also say:

(On) tjesteninu uvijek bira za ručak.
(On) za ručak uvijek bira tjesteninu.

These are all grammatical; different orders can slightly change emphasis (e.g. stressing pasta vs always vs for lunch), but in everyday speech the differences are subtle. For a learner, uvijek + verb + object is a very safe default pattern.

What does za ručak literally mean, and why use za?

Za ručak literally means for lunch.

za
- accusative often expresses purpose, destination, or intended use:
  - kupujem kruh za večeru – I’m buying bread for dinner
  - cipele za planinarenje – shoes for hiking

Here:

ručak – lunch (accusative singular)
za ručak – for lunch, i.e. as the meal he eats at lunchtime.

It’s very similar to English: He always chooses pasta for lunch.

What exactly does bira mean? How is it different from izabrati or odabrati?

Bira is the 3rd person singular present tense of birati (to choose, select; imperfective).

On bira tjesteninu. – He chooses pasta / He is choosing pasta.

Aspect difference:

birati – imperfective: focuses on the ongoing or repeated action
- On uvijek bira tjesteninu. – He always chooses pasta (habit).
izabrati / odabrati – perfective: focus on a single, completed act of choosing
- On je izabrao tjesteninu. – He chose pasta (once; completed).

In this sentence we talk about a habit, so the imperfective bira is the correct and natural choice.

Could we say Više voli tjesteninu nego rižu instead of Tjestenina mu je draža od riže?

Yes, that’s a very common alternative, and it’s easier for many learners:

Više voli tjesteninu nego rižu, pa uvijek bira tjesteninu za ručak.
= He likes pasta more than rice, so he always chooses pasta for lunch.

Differences:

Tjestenina mu je draža od riže.
- Uses the adjective drag in comparative (draža) with od + genitive.
Više voli tjesteninu nego rižu.
- Uses više (more) + voli (likes) + nego (than) with direct objects in accusative (tjesteninu, rižu).

Both are natural, standard Croatian. The original sentence sounds slightly more idiomatic or elegant, but više voli is absolutely common and straightforward.

Is the subject he or she here? How do we know?

Everything explicitly said in the sentence is grammatically feminine or neuter, except the dative pronoun mu:

tjestenina – feminine noun (pasta)
draža – feminine form of the adjective
mu – dative singular him or to him (for a masculine person) or to him/it for some neuter/feminine nouns

In practice, mu in this context almost always refers to a male person (to him), unless context states otherwise.

So we normally understand:

He prefers pasta to rice, so he always chooses pasta for lunch.

If we clearly wanted her, we’d typically use joj (dative feminine) instead of mu:

Tjestenina joj je draža od riže… – Pasta is dearer to her than rice…

How do you pronounce tjestenina, especially the tj part?

Tjestenina is pronounced approximately:

tʲe-ste-ni-na (TEH-steh-NEE-nah), with all vowels clearly pronounced.

Notes:

tj is pronounced as t
- j, not as an English ch.
  - So say t as in tea plus y as in yes, blended: tye.
Stress is usually on the second syllable: tjes-TE-ni-na (regional variations exist, but this works fine for a learner).

You pronounce every vowel: tje-ste-ni-na, nothing is silent.