Learn Hardcore Croatian: Svaka životinja ima ime, a volonterka piše njihova imena na papirnate kartice. - Every animal has a name, and the female volunteer writes their names on paper cards.

životinja (animal) is feminine, singular, nominative.
The word for every/each must therefore also be feminine, singular, nominative: svaka.

So:

svaka životinja = every animal (feminine noun)
svaki pas = every dog (masculine noun)
svako dijete = every child (neuter noun)

Using svaki životinja would be wrong because svaki is masculine, but životinja is feminine.

Why is the verb ima (has) singular when we’re talking about all animals?

The grammatical subject of the sentence is svaka životinja (each/every animal), which is singular, even though its meaning is “all animals, one by one”.

In Croatian (as in English with “each animal has”), the verb agrees with the grammatical number, not the “logical” idea of many animals.

Svaka životinja ima ime. – Every animal has a name. (singular)
Sve životinje imaju ime. – All animals have a name. (plural)

So ima is singular to match svaka životinja.

What is the difference between svaka životinja ima ime and sve životinje imaju ime?

Both are grammatically correct but differ slightly in nuance:

Svaka životinja ima ime.
Literally “Each animal has a name.”
– Emphasizes each individual animal, one by one.
Sve životinje imaju ime.
Literally “All animals have a name.”
– Emphasizes the group as a whole.

In everyday use they often overlap, but svaka sounds a bit more “distributive” (one by one), while sve is more collective.

Why is the conjunction a used, and not i?

Both a and i can be translated as and, but they’re not identical:

i = and (simply adding information, neutral connection)
a = and / whereas / while (often contrasts, or just slightly shifts the topic)

In the sentence:

Svaka životinja ima ime, a volonterka piše njihova imena na papirnate kartice.

The part with a introduces a different participant (the volunteer) and a new, related action. It feels like:

“Every animal has a name, and (meanwhile / and then) the volunteer writes their names on paper cards.”

Using i would not be wrong, but a sounds more natural here because we switch from talking about the animals to talking about what the volunteer does.

What does volonterka mean exactly, and is it always female?

Yes. Croatian marks grammatical gender clearly in many nouns:

volonter = a volunteer (male)
volonterka = a volunteer (female)

So volonterka explicitly tells you we are talking about a female volunteer.

If gender doesn’t matter or is unknown, people often default to the masculine form in a neutral way:

Volonter piše njihova imena… (could be generic “the volunteer” or specifically a man)
Volonterka piše njihova imena… (specifically a woman)

What’s going on with ime → imena? Why does “name” plural look so different?

Ime (name) is a neuter noun with an irregular plural:

singular: ime (name)
plural: imena (names)

This is a regular pattern for many short neuter nouns in -e:

more → mora (sea → seas)
pismo → pisma (letter → letters)
polje → polja (field → fields)

So njihova imena literally means their names.

Why is it njihova imena, not njihove imena?

The possessive njihov- (their) must agree with the noun ime / imena in gender, number, and case.

imena is neuter, plural, accusative (same form as nominative).
The correct neuter plural form of njihov is njihova.

Compare:

njegova imena – his names (neuter, plural)
njihova imena – their names (neuter, plural)
njihove životinje – their animals (feminine, plural)
njihovi psi – their dogs (masculine, plural)

So njihove imena is wrong because njihove is feminine plural, but imena is neuter plural.

Why do we use njihova (their) and not svoja (their own)?

Both njihova and svoja can express possession, but svoj is a reflexive possessive: it refers back to the grammatical subject of the sentence.

The subject here is volonterka (she), not the animals.

Svaka životinja ima ime, a volonterka piše njihova imena…
= Every animal has a name, and the volunteer writes their names…
(njihova refers to “the animals”, not to the volunteer.)

If you said:

…volonterka piše svoja imena…
that would normally mean “the volunteer writes her own names,” which makes no sense in context.

So njihova correctly refers to “their (the animals’) names”, not the subject’s names.

What case is njihova imena in, and why does it look like the nominative?

In the sentence, njihova imena is the direct object of the verb piše (writes), so it is in the accusative case.

However, in Croatian, neuter plural nouns have the same form in the nominative and accusative:

nominative plural: imena (names)
accusative plural: imena (names)

Same with the adjective/pronoun:

nominative plural neuter: njihova imena
accusative plural neuter: njihova imena

So it looks like nominative, but its function in the sentence is accusative (object).

Why is it na papirnate kartice, not something like na papirnatim karticama?

The preposition na can take either accusative or locative, depending on the meaning:

na + accusative → movement onto / to something
na + locative → position on / at something

In the sentence:

…piše njihova imena na papirnate kartice.

This expresses movement or result: she writes the names onto the cards (creating / filling them). So na takes the accusative: papirnate kartice.

If you said:

…piše njihova imena na papirnatim karticama.

That would be locative and mean: “she writes their names on the paper cards (the writing process is happening on cards that already exist)”.

Both are possible, but the accusative version emphasizes the idea of writing onto cards as targets.

Why is it papirnate kartice and not papirne kartice? Is there a difference?

Both papirnate kartice and papirne kartice can be heard, but there is a nuance:

papirnate (from papirnat) usually emphasizes “made of paper” (material adjective).
papirne (from papiran/papiran‑?, more generally from papirni in some usage) tends to be more general “paper” as a quality, often used interchangeably in practice.

In contemporary usage, many speakers won’t feel a strong difference and might use:

papirnata vrećica / papirna vrećica – paper bag
papirnata kartica / papirna kartica – paper card

The key grammar point: the adjective must agree with kartice (feminine plural accusative):

(na) papirnate kartice – feminine plural accusative
(-e ending matches kartice)

Why is kartice in the plural? Could we use singular karticu?

Kartice is feminine, plural, accusative, agreeing with papirnate:

na papirnate kartice – onto paper cards (plural)

We use plural because njihova imena is also plural (“their names”). The sentence suggests there are multiple names written on multiple cards (likely one card per animal or something similar).

You could say:

piše njihova imena na papirnatu karticu
= writes their names on a (single) paper card

but then the meaning changes to “all their names on one card” rather than on separate cards.

Could we drop a and just say: Svaka životinja ima ime, volonterka piše njihova imena…?

Native speakers might say that in fast, informal speech, but it sounds a bit like a comma splice: two independent clauses just stuck together without a connector.

Standard, natural written Croatian prefers a conjunction:

Svaka životinja ima ime, a volonterka piše njihova imena…

You could also make it two sentences:

Svaka životinja ima ime. Volonterka piše njihova imena…

Could we change the word order: Volonterka piše njihova imena na papirnate kartice, a svaka životinja ima ime?

Yes, that’s grammatically correct, but the information flow changes.

Original:

Svaka životinja ima ime, a volonterka piše njihova imena…
First emphasizes the fact (each animal has a name), then explains what the volunteer does with those names.

Reversed:

Volonterka piše njihova imena na papirnate kartice, a svaka životinja ima ime.
First focuses on the volunteer’s action, then adds a more general fact about the animals.

Both are fine; the original sounds a bit more natural for explaining the process (names exist → someone writes them).

What tense and aspect is piše, and could we use something like zapisuje instead?

Piše is:

present tense
imperfective aspect
3rd person singular of pisati (to write)

It describes an action that is ongoing, repeated, or habitual:

Volonterka piše njihova imena…
= The volunteer writes / is writing their names…

You could say:

Volonterka zapisuje njihova imena na papirnate kartice.

zapisivati (imperfective of zapisati) adds a nuance of “writing down / recording”, often a bit more formal or precise. The core grammar stays the same; only the verb choice and nuance change.