Learn Hardcore Croatian: Mnogi studenti vole učiti hrvatski ujutro. - Many students like to study Croatian in the morning.

With countable plural nouns like students, Croatian often prefers mnogi studenti, puno studenata, or mnogo studenata, but mnogo studenti is not grammatical. If you use mnogo, the noun normally goes into genitive plural:

✅ mnogo studenata – many students
✅ mnogi studenti – many students
❌ mnogo studenti – incorrect

Why is it studenti and not studente?

Studenti is in the nominative plural, which is used for the subject of the sentence.

The structure is:

Mnogi studenti – subject (who?)
vole – verb (like)
učiti hrvatski ujutro – object + adverbial (what? when?)

If you used studente (accusative plural), it would be an object, e.g.:

Vidim studente. – I see the students.

Here, students are not being seen or acted upon; they are the ones doing the liking. So nominative plural studenti is required.

Why do we say vole učiti (like to study) and not vole uče or vole da uče?

In Croatian, when you say someone likes doing something, the most natural structure is:

voljeti + infinitive

So:

vole učiti – they like to study / they like studying

Using a finite verb instead of an infinitive (like vole uče) is ungrammatical.

Vole da uče is understandable, but:

it sounds more colloquial / regional and
the standard, neutral way is vole učiti.

So you can treat voljeti + infinitive as the default pattern:

Volim čitati. – I like to read.
Volimo putovati. – We like to travel.
Mnogi studenti vole učiti. – Many students like to study.

Why is vole and not vole učim or vole uče?

Croatian normally allows only one conjugated verb in this kind of construction.

The pattern is:

[Subject] + [conjugated verb “voljeti”] + [infinitive]

In our sentence:

oni (they) – implied subject
vole – 3rd person plural of voljeti (they like)
učiti – infinitive (to study)

So:

✅ Mnogi studenti vole učiti. – correct
❌ Mnogi studenti vole učim. – 2 different persons in one clause (they like I study)
❌ Mnogi studenti vole uče. – 2 finite verbs in one simple clause; ungrammatical here

Think: only “voljeti” is conjugated; the second verb stays in the infinitive.

Why is it hrvatski and not hrvatski jezik or hrvatskog?

Hrvatski here is an adjective that stands in for the noun phrase “hrvatski jezik” (Croatian language).

The full version would be:

Mnogi studenti vole učiti hrvatski jezik ujutro.

But in everyday speech, when it’s clear we mean the language, people usually drop “jezik” and just say:

učiti hrvatski

Grammatically:

učiti što? – to study what? → hrvatski (jezik)
So it’s in the accusative singular masculine (direct object of učiti): hrvatski.

Hrvatskog would be the genitive form, which you’d use in other contexts, e.g.:

gramatika hrvatskog jezika – the grammar of the Croatian language

Why is hrvatski written with a lowercase h, but Hrvatska (the country) is uppercase?

Croatian follows this pattern:

Country / proper names – capital letter
- Hrvatska – Croatia
- Francuska – France
Adjectives derived from them – lowercase
- hrvatski jezik – the Croatian language
- hrvatski student – Croatian student
- francuski jezik – French language

So in our sentence:

hrvatski (jezik) – adjective meaning Croatian (language) → lowercase
If you wrote Hrvatski, it would look like a title or beginning of a sentence, not the normal mid-sentence form.

Can I say Mnogi studenti ujutro vole učiti hrvatski or Ujutro mnogi studenti vole učiti hrvatski? Is the word order flexible?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, especially with adverbs of time like ujutro.

All of these are grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:

Mnogi studenti vole učiti hrvatski ujutro.
– neutral; focus on many students and what they like to do in general.
Mnogi studenti ujutro vole učiti hrvatski.
– small emphasis on in the morning as the time when they like to study.
Ujutro mnogi studenti vole učiti hrvatski.
– strong initial focus on in the morning; as in “In the morning, many students like to study Croatian.”

The meaning stays basically the same; what changes is the focus and rhythm of the sentence, not the grammar.

Why is it ujutro and not u jutro?

Ujutro is a single adverb meaning “in the morning”:

ujutro = u
- jutro fused into one word over time.

Using u jutro (two words) is either:

old-fashioned, or
would literally mean into the morning in a more literal, spatial sense (rare).

In modern standard Croatian, for time you say:

ujutro – in the morning
poslijepodne – in the afternoon
navečer – in the evening

So the correct standard form here is ujutro.

What is the difference between učiti and naučiti? Could I say vole naučiti hrvatski ujutro?

Both relate to learning/studying, but they differ in aspect:

učiti – imperfective: to study, to be learning (ongoing process)
naučiti – perfective: to learn, to master (to finish the process, reach a result)

In your sentence:

vole učiti hrvatski ujutro → they like the activity of studying Croatian in the morning.

If you say:

vole naučiti hrvatski ujutro

this sounds like: they like to *(successfully) learn / complete learning Croatian in the morning* – which is odd in a habitual sense. You normally like the process, not just the completed achievement.

So for hobbies and regular activities, use učiti:

Volim učiti jezike. – I like studying languages.
Djeca vole učiti nove stvari. – Children like to learn new things.

Why is Mnogi studenti and not Mnogo studenata? What’s the difference?

Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:

Mnogi studenti
- mnogi = adjective, nominative plural
- studenti = nominative plural
- Slightly more formal/literary, often sounds more emphatic or “countable”.
Mnogo studenata
- mnogo = adverb/quantifier
- studenata = genitive plural
- More neutral and common in everyday speech.

So you could also say:

Mnogo studenata voli učiti hrvatski ujutro.

Both mean “Many students like to study Croatian in the morning.”
Your original Mnogi studenti is perfectly correct and slightly more “bookish” or elevated.

Can I drop učiti and just say Mnogi studenti vole hrvatski ujutro?

You can say it, but the meaning changes.

vole učiti hrvatski ujutro – they like studying Croatian in the morning.
vole hrvatski ujutro – sounds like “they like Croatian in the morning”, as if Croatian is something you like, not something you study.

Without učiti, hrvatski is interpreted as a thing they like, not the activity of studying it.

To express the idea of enjoying studying, you really need the verb učiti (or another verb like proučavati, depending on context). So the original version is the natural one.

Why is the verb in the present tense (vole) if the meaning is about a general habit (they like to study in the morning)?

In Croatian, the present tense is used both for:

Actions happening right now, and
General truths / habits.

So:

Sada uče hrvatski. – They are studying Croatian now.
Mnogi studenti vole učiti hrvatski ujutro. – Many students generally like to study Croatian in the morning (habit).

This is the same as English using the present simple for habits:

They like to study Croatian in the morning.

No special tense is needed in Croatian; the present tense covers this “habitual” meaning.