Learn Hardcore Croatian: Naš zajednički cilj je spasiti rijeku od smeća i čuvati okoliš. - Our common goal is to save the river from trash and to protect the environment.

Because cilj is masculine singular and in the nominative case (it’s the subject), both naš and zajednički take the same form: masculine singular nominative.

Why is it cilj je spasiti and not cilj je da spasimo?

Both patterns exist, but they’re used differently.

cilj je spasiti rijeku…
- Structure: noun + je + infinitive
- Literally: the goal is to save the river…
- The infinitive (spasiti) expresses an abstract purpose. This is very natural and common, especially in written and formal language.
cilj je da spasimo rijeku…
- Structure: noun + je + da + present tense clause
- Literally: the goal is that we save the river…
- Also correct, but sounds slightly more clausal and less compact. Often used in speech or when you want to emphasize the doer (“we”) or make the statement more concrete.

In your sentence, Naš zajednički cilj je spasiti… is the smoother, more neutral way to express “our shared goal is to save…”. It focuses on the action as a goal, not on who is doing it (which is understood from context).

Why is it rijeku and not rijeka?

Rijeka is a feminine noun meaning river.

rijeka – nominative singular (dictionary form)
rijeku – accusative singular

After verbs like spasiti (to save), the direct object goes into the accusative case:

spasiti rijeku – to save the river (what? → the river)

Feminine nouns that end in -a in the nominative usually change to -u in the accusative:

učiti gramatiku (to learn grammar; gramatika → gramatiku)
imati knjigu (to have a book; knjiga → knjigu)
posjetiti školu (to visit a school; škola → školu)

So rijeku is simply rijeka in the accusative, because it is what you are saving.

Why is it od smeća? What does od do, and what case is smeća?

Od is a preposition that usually means from, of, away from, because of.

It almost always takes the genitive case.

od smeća – from trash / from garbage

Smeće is a neuter noun meaning trash / garbage. Its genitive singular is smeća:

nominative: smeće
genitive: smeća

After od, you must use the genitive:

daleko od kuće – far from (the) house
štititi djecu od opasnosti – to protect children from danger
spasiti rijeku od smeća – to save the river from trash

So the structure is:
spasiti [što?] rijeku [od čega?] od smeća
= to save what? the river; from what? from trash.

What’s the difference between spasiti and spašavati?

Both relate to saving, but they differ in aspect:

spasiti – perfective aspect
- a single, completed action: to save (successfully), to rescue
- focuses on result: the river ends up saved
spašavati – imperfective aspect
- ongoing, repeated, or habitual action: to be saving, to keep saving
- focuses on process, not completion

In a goal statement, you typically use the perfective infinitive because you’re talking about a desired finished result:

Naš zajednički cilj je spasiti rijeku…
Our shared goal is to (successfully) save the river…

If you used spašavati, it would sound more like:

Naš zajednički cilj je spašavati rijeke.
Our shared goal is to (be) saving rivers / to regularly save rivers.

So spasiti fits better when you are talking about achieving a specific outcome.

Why is it čuvati okoliš and not čuvati okoliša?

Čuvati means to guard, to protect, to preserve, to look after. It takes a direct object in the accusative case.

Okoliš is a masculine noun meaning environment, surroundings.

nominative: okoliš
accusative: okoliš (masculine inanimate – form is the same as nominative)

So:

čuvati okoliš – to protect the environment (what? → the environment)

If you said čuvati okoliša, that would be the genitive and would be incorrect here because there is no preposition requiring genitive, and čuvati normally takes an accusative object.

Compare:

čuvati djecu – to look after the children (accusative)
čuvati planine – to protect the mountains (accusative)
čuvati okoliš – to protect the environment (accusative)

Why are both spasiti and čuvati in the infinitive?

They are both infinitives because they are both part of what the goal is.

The structure is:

Naš zajednički cilj je
– spasiti rijeku od smeća
– i čuvati okoliš.

So spasiti and čuvati are parallel, coordinated infinitives:

cilj je [spasiti …] i [čuvati …]
the goal is [to save …] and [to protect …]

You could think of it as an implicit repetition of “je”:

cilj je spasiti rijeku … i (cilj je) čuvati okoliš.

In Croatian, when you list several actions as parts of the same abstract goal, using the infinitive for each is natural:

Naš plan je obnoviti kuću i prodati stan.
Our plan is to renovate the house and sell the apartment.

Can the word order be changed, like Naš je zajednički cilj… or Zajednički je naš cilj…?

Word order in Croatian is more flexible than in English, but Naš zajednički cilj je… is the most neutral.

Some alternatives and their feel:

Naš je zajednički cilj spasiti…
– also correct; a bit more emphatic on naš (our), because it is pulled closer to je.
Zajednički je naš cilj spasiti…
– grammatically possible, but sounds marked / poetic / very emphatic, stressing zajednički (shared).
Cilj nam je spasiti rijeku…
– also common; literally the goal to-us is to save the river…, slightly more conversational.

In standard, neutral style, Naš zajednički cilj je spasiti rijeku od smeća i čuvati okoliš. is ideal.

How is š and ć pronounced in words like smeća, čuvati, and okoliš?

Croatian spelling is quite phonetic:

š – like sh in shoe or shore
- okoliš – sounds like oko-lish
- šuma – shuma (forest)
č – like ch in chocolate or church
- čuvati – chu-vati (to protect, to keep)
- čisto – chisto (clean)
ć – softer, somewhat between English t and ch; often described as a “soft ch”.
In smeća:
- smeća – roughly sme-tya or sme-cha with the tongue slightly more forward and lighter than č.
- č is “harder”, ć is “softer”.

English doesn’t have a perfect equivalent for ć, so approximating it with a slightly softened “ch” is usually acceptable for learners.

There’s no word for the in rijeku or okoliš. How do we know it means “the river” and “the environment”, not “a river” and “an environment”?

Croatian has no articles (a, an, the). The definiteness (whether it is “a river” or “the river”) is usually clear from:

Context – what has already been mentioned
Shared knowledge – what both speaker and listener know
Meaning of the sentence – broad vs specific reference

In this sentence:

spasiti rijeku od smeća – in context, this is usually understood as the river in question (e.g., the local river everyone knows about).
čuvati okoliš – generally understood as the environment in a general sense (the environment around us / the natural environment).

So:

rijeku can be a river or the river
okoliš can be an environment or the environment

English forces you to choose a/an or the, but Croatian leaves it to context.