Learn Hardcore Croatian: Sljedeći mjesec planiram otići u azil i vidjeti kako volonteri spašavaju životinje. - Next month I plan to go to the shelter and see how the volunteers are rescuing animals.

In Croatian, the present tense is very often used to talk about fixed or planned future events, especially with time expressions like sljedeći mjesec, sutra, večeras, etc.

So sljedeći mjesec planiram otići… literally is “next month I am planning to go…”, and it naturally refers to a future plan.

Ću planirati is grammatically possible but sounds odd here: it would mean “I will be doing the planning (at some point)”, focusing on the act of planning itself, not on the actual visit. Native speakers nearly always say planiram otići in this context.

Why is sljedeći mjesec at the beginning of the sentence? Could I say Planiram sljedeći mjesec otići u azil… instead?

Both are correct. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and you can move time expressions around.

Sljedeći mjesec planiram otići u azil… puts emphasis on next month (“As for next month, I plan to go…”).
Planiram sljedeći mjesec otići u azil… emphasizes the planning more, then specifies when.

You could also say Planiram otići u azil sljedeći mjesec, which is also natural. All three versions are fine and commonly used.

What is the difference between ići and otići, and why is otići used here?

Both verbs are usually translated as to go, but they differ in aspect:

ići – imperfective: focuses on the process or repeated action (“to go/ be going”);
otići – perfective: focuses on a single, completed departure (“to go away / to leave for a place”).

In planiram otići u azil, a one‑time, concrete visit to the shelter is planned, so the perfective otići is natural.

If you said planiram ići u azil, it would sound a bit more like “I’m planning (in general) to go to the shelter (maybe regularly)”, though in casual speech some people might still use it for a single visit.

Why is it u azil, and what case is azil in?

With verbs of motion (like ići, otići, trčati, voziti se) Croatian uses u + accusative to express movement into a place.

u azil – preposition u
- accusative singular azil (masculine noun).

If you were in the shelter (no movement), you would use u + locative:

Radim u azilu. – “I work in the shelter.”

So: motion → u + accusative; location/state → u + locative.

Does azil only mean “animal shelter”? I thought it meant “asylum”.

Azil does indeed mean asylum in general (e.g. political asylum: politički azil).

However, in everyday speech in many places, azil by itself is commonly understood as animal shelter, especially in contexts about animals. Strictly speaking, sklonište za životinje or prihvatilište za životinje are more descriptive, but azil for an animal shelter is very common and natural in modern Croatian.

Why is the infinitive (otići, vidjeti) used after planiram? Could I say planiram da odem or da vidim?

In standard Croatian, verbs like planirati, željeti, morati, htjeti, voljeti are normally followed by an infinitive:

planiram otići
želim vidjeti
moram učiti

Structures like planiram da odem are understood, and you may hear similar patterns in some regional speech or under Serbian influence, but in standard Croatian planiram otići / planiram vidjeti with the infinitive is the correct and most natural choice here.

What is the difference between vidjeti and gledati, and why is vidjeti used?

vidjeti – “to see”, usually something that comes into your field of vision or that you witness;
gledati – “to watch / to look at”, a more active, deliberate action.

In vidjeti kako volonteri spašavaju životinje, the speaker wants to see (witness) how volunteers save animals – to observe the process. You could say gledati kako volonteri spašavaju životinje to emphasize watching them in action for some time. Both are possible, but vidjeti matches the “I want to see how they do it” meaning very well.

How is kako used in vidjeti kako volonteri spašavaju životinje? Is it “how” or “that”?

Here kako introduces a subordinate clause and can be understood as how in the sense of “the way in which”. The whole part kako volonteri spašavaju životinje means “how the volunteers save animals / the way the volunteers save animals.”

In English, you might also translate the sentence more loosely as “…and see the volunteers saving animals” or “…and see that the volunteers are saving animals”, but in Croatian the conjunction kako here primarily has the meaning of how / in what way.

Why is it spašavaju and not something like spasit će? What does the aspect tell us?

Spašavati (imperfective) and spasiti (perfective) form an aspect pair:

spašavaju – present tense, imperfective: focuses on an ongoing, repeated, or habitual action (“they are saving / they save”).
spasit će – future tense, perfective: a single, completed act in the future (“they will save”).

In kako volonteri spašavaju životinje, the focus is on the activity that volunteers are doing there in general / regularly – saving animals as an ongoing process. That’s why the imperfective present spašavaju fits.

If you said kako će volonteri spasiti životinje, you would be talking about one specific future act of rescue.

What form and case are volonteri and životinje in?

volonteri – nominative plural of volonter (masculine, “volunteer”). It is the subject of the clause volonteri spašavaju životinje.
životinje – accusative plural of životinja (feminine, “animal”). For this type of feminine noun, nominative plural and accusative plural look the same (životinje), so context and function tell you it’s the direct object here.

So the structure is: volonteri (subject, nominative) spašavaju (verb) životinje (object, accusative).

Can the word order in kako volonteri spašavaju životinje change? For example, can we say kako spašavaju volonteri životinje?

Croatian word order is flexible, so several variations are possible and grammatical:

kako volonteri spašavaju životinje – neutral, standard order.
kako volonteri životinje spašavaju – possible, with slight emphasis on spašavaju (the act of saving).
kako spašavaju volonteri životinje – also possible, putting some emphasis on volonteri (“how the volunteers (as opposed to others) save animals”).

For a learner, the safest and most neutral option is exactly what you see in the sentence: kako volonteri spašavaju životinje (subject–verb–object).

Why is there no comma before i in …planiram otići u azil i vidjeti…?

In Croatian, coordinating conjunctions like i (and), ili (or), ali (but) usually do not take a comma when they simply connect two parts of the same clause or two infinitives:

planiram otići u azil i vidjeti… (two infinitives: otići, vidjeti).

A comma before i appears when it separates two independent clauses or when there is a stronger pause, but here we just have one subject (ja, implied) and a coordinated infinitive phrase. So no comma is needed, and …otići u azil i vidjeti… is the standard spelling.