Learn Hardcore Croatian: Turistkinja je iznenađena jer stvarnost izgleda ljepše nego fotografije na mreži. - The female tourist is surprised because reality looks more beautiful than the photos on the internet.

You can sometimes use turist generically (like “tourist” in English), but if you know it’s a woman, it’s normal and natural to say turistkinja.

What is je iznenađena exactly? Why do we need je, and why is iznenađena in that form?

je iznenađena is made of:

je – the 3rd person singular of the verb biti (to be), present tense
iznenađena – past passive participle of iznenaditi (“to surprise”), used here as an adjective

Literally:

Turistkinja je iznenađena = The (female) tourist is surprised.

In Croatian, for this kind of “state” in the present, you usually use:

[subject] + je + [past participle used as adjective]

The participle agrees with the subject:

masculine sg.: iznenađen – On je iznenađen. (He is surprised.)
feminine sg.: iznenađena – Ona je iznenađena. (She is surprised.)
neuter sg.: iznenađeno – Dijete je iznenađeno. (The child is surprised.)
plural: iznenađeni / iznenađene / iznenađena, depending on gender

je is the auxiliary “to be”; you normally can’t drop it in standard Croatian in this kind of sentence.

Could I say iznenađena je instead of je iznenađena? Is the word order fixed?

Both are grammatically correct:

Turistkinja je iznenađena…
Turistkinja je iznenađena jer… (most neutral)
Turistkinja je iznenađena jer… and Turistkinja je iznenađena, jer… (with a comma) depending on style/pause
Turistkinja je iznenađena jer stvarnost…

You can also say:

Turistkinja je iznenađena
Turistkinja, iznenađena je jer… (but here you’re emphasizing iznenađena)

In simple statements, the normal, neutral order is:

[Subject] + je + [predicate]
Turistkinja je iznenađena.

Putting je after iznenađena (e.g. “Turistkinja iznenađena je jer…”) is unusual and would sound marked/stylistic, not like standard neutral prose.

What tense is this? Does je iznenađena mean “is surprised” or “was surprised”?

In this sentence it means “is surprised” – a present state.

je is present tense (“is”).
The participle iznenađena expresses the resulting state of having been surprised.

If you want a clear past (“was surprised”), Croatian usually uses the perfect:

Turistkinja je bila iznenađena jer…
= The tourist was surprised because…

So:

je iznenađena → present state: is surprised
je bila iznenađena → past state: was surprised

What does jer mean here, and how is it different from zato što or što?

jer means “because” and introduces a reason clause:

Turistkinja je iznenađena jer stvarnost izgleda ljepše…
= The tourist is surprised because reality looks nicer…

Other common ways to say “because”:

zato što – also “because”, often a bit more emphatic or explanatory
- Turistkinja je iznenađena zato što stvarnost izgleda ljepše…
što – in some dialects/colloquial speech used similarly, but in standard language it has many other functions (“that”, “what”), so jer / zato što are safer choices for learners.

In everyday standard Croatian:

jer and zato što are both very common for “because”.
jer is a little shorter and very frequent in speech and writing.

Why is it stvarnost and not something like realnost? What does stvarnost mean exactly?

stvarnost means “reality”, “the real world”, as opposed to images, imagination, expectations, etc.

stvar = thing
stvarnost = thing-ness, i.e. reality

You can also find realnost (from “real”), but:

stvarnost is the more natural everyday word here for “reality” in contrast to pictures, internet, etc.
realnost tends to sound slightly more abstract/technical or used in certain set phrases.

So the contrast is:

stvarnost vs. fotografije na mreži
→ the real world vs. the photos on the web.

What is the function of izgleda here? Is it like English “looks”?

Yes. izgleda is the 3rd person singular present tense of izgledati, and here it works exactly like English “to look (seem)”:

stvarnost izgleda ljepše
= reality looks nicer / seems nicer

izgledati can mean:

to have a certain appearance:
- On izgleda umorno. = He looks tired.
to seem / appear (in a general sense):
- Izgleda da će padati kiša. = It looks like it’s going to rain.

In your sentence, it’s sense 1: how reality appears to the eyes.

Why is it ljepše and not ljepša or ljepši? What form is ljepše?

The base adjective is:

lijep = beautiful, nice

Comparative forms as adjectives:

masculine: ljepši – ljepši grad (a nicer city)
feminine: ljepša – ljepša kuća (a nicer house)
neuter: ljepše – ljepše selo (a nicer village)

But ljepše is also used as an adverb meaning “more beautifully / nicer (in appearance)”.

In stvarnost izgleda ljepše, ljepše behaves like an adverb describing how reality looks:

reality looks nicer (not “is a nicer [something]”)

Compare:

Stvarnost je ljepša. = Reality is nicer. (adjective; reality itself is nicer.)
Stvarnost izgleda ljepše. = Reality looks nicer. (adverb; how it appears.)

So ljepše here corresponds to English “nicer” in “looks nicer”.

How does nego work here? Why nego fotografije, and not od fotografija?

Both nego and od can translate as “than” in comparisons, but they’re used a bit differently.

In your sentence:

stvarnost izgleda ljepše nego fotografije na mreži
literally: reality looks nicer than (the) photos on the web (do).

Here nego introduces a comparison with another element in the same case, and you can understand it as an elliptical clause:

stvarnost izgleda ljepše nego (što izgledaju) fotografije na mreži
reality looks nicer than (the photos on the web look).

That’s why fotografije is in the nominative plural, like a hidden “[they] (are)” / “[they] look” after it.

You could also say:

stvarnost izgleda ljepše od fotografija na mreži.

Here od requires the genitive plural fotografija, and the structure is more like English “nicer than the photos”.

Both versions are correct and natural:

ljepše nego fotografije – focuses on “nicer than the photos (look)”
ljepše od fotografija – “nicer than (those) photos” (more object-like comparison)

For learners, it’s good to remember:

od + genitive is very common after comparatives (= than).
nego is also very common, especially:
- after negation (e.g. više volim kavu nego čaj – I prefer coffee to tea)
- when you’re comparing whole clauses (as here, with an implied clause).

What case is fotografije here? How do I know it’s plural nominative and not genitive singular?

The form fotografije can be:

nominative plural: fotografije = “(the) photos”
genitive singular: fotografije = “of (a/the) photo”

In nego fotografije na mreži, context and structure tell you it’s nominative plural:

After nego in this kind of comparison, we often have a parallel subject-like element:
- ljepše nego [one would expect]
- ljepše nego fotografije (na mreži)
  → “nicer than (the) photos (on the net) [are]”
The phrase na mreži (“on the web”) naturally attaches to plural “photos”:
- “the photos on the web”
  not “of a photo on the web”

So you read it as:

fotografije (na mreži) = “(the) photos (on the web)”
grammatically: nominative plural

What does na mreži mean exactly? Is it the same as “on the internet”?

Yes. na mreži literally means “on the network”, but in modern use it usually means:

online / on the internet / on the web

Common variants:

na mreži – “online”, “on the (computer) network”
na internetu – “on the internet”
na webu – “on the web”

In your sentence:

fotografije na mreži
= photos on the internet / online photos

All three (na mreži, na internetu, na webu) would be understood; na internetu is maybe the most transparent for learners, but na mreži is perfectly normal.

Could I change the word order and still be correct? For example, put jer at the beginning or move stvarnost?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, especially for emphasis. Some natural alternatives:

Jer stvarnost izgleda ljepše nego fotografije na mreži, turistkinja je iznenađena.
= Because reality looks nicer than the photos on the web, the tourist is surprised.
(Here you put the reason first.)
Turistkinja je iznenađena zato što stvarnost izgleda ljepše nego fotografije na mreži.
(Using zato što instead of jer, slightly more explanatory tone.)
Stvarnost izgleda ljepše nego fotografije na mreži, pa je turistkinja iznenađena.
(First the fact about reality, then the result “so the tourist is surprised”.)

The original:

Turistkinja je iznenađena jer stvarnost izgleda ljepše nego fotografije na mreži.

is a neutral, clear word order and a very natural way to say it.