Učiteljica opisuje svoj plan za izlet.

The teacher is describing her plan for the trip.

Breakdown of Učiteljica opisuje svoj plan za izlet.

• učiteljica: teacher
• za: for
• plan: plan
• svoj: own
• izlet: trip
• opisivati: to describe

Questions & Answers about Učiteljica opisuje svoj plan za izlet.

What does učiteljica tell me about the subject, and how would the sentence change if the teacher were male?

Učiteljica means female teacher. The suffix -ica usually marks a feminine noun in Croatian.

• učitelj = (a) teacher (male or generic)
• učiteljica = (a) teacher (female)

In the sentence Učiteljica opisuje svoj plan za izlet, the subject is clearly a woman.

If the teacher were male, you would say:

• Učitelj opisuje svoj plan za izlet.

Only the noun for teacher changes; the verb opisuje and the rest of the sentence stay the same.

What tense and person is opisuje, and what would the infinitive be?

Opisuje is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• of the verb opisivati = to describe (imperfective aspect)

So opisuje means he/she is describing or he/she describes.

The basic forms:

• infinitive: opisivati (to describe, ongoing/repeated)
• he/she (present): on/ona opisuje
• past (perfect): on/ona je opisivala (she was describing / used to describe) or opisala from the perfective opisati (she described).

Why is svoj used instead of njezin (her), and what is the difference?

Croatian has a special reflexive possessive pronoun svoj that refers back to the subject of the sentence.

In Učiteljica opisuje svoj plan za izlet:

• subject: učiteljica
• svoj plan = her own plan (the plan of the subject)

You normally use:

• svoj / svoja / svoje when the owner is the subject.
• njezin / njezina / njezino when the owner is some other female, not the subject.

Compare:

1. Učiteljica opisuje svoj plan za izlet.
   = The teacher (subject) describes her own plan.

2. Učiteljica opisuje njezin plan za izlet.
   = The teacher describes her plan, where her refers to some other woman (not the teacher).

So svoj avoids ambiguity and automatically points back to the subject.

Why is svoj and not svoja or svoje? How does it agree with plan?

Svoj behaves like an adjective and must agree with the noun it modifies in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, plan is:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative (direct object of opisuje)

Masculine singular accusative for an inanimate noun like plan looks the same as the nominative: plan.

So svoj must also be:

• masculine
• singular
• accusative

That form is svoj.

Other examples of agreement:

• svoja knjiga (feminine, singular, nominative)
• svoje kuće (feminine, singular, genitive or accusative)
• svoja pisma (neuter, plural, nominative/accusative)

Why is there no word for a or the before učiteljica or plan?

Croatian has no articles like English a/an or the.

• Učiteljica can mean a (female) teacher or the (female) teacher, depending on context.
• plan can mean a plan or the plan.

The definiteness (a vs. the) is understood from the situation or from previous context, not from a separate word.

For example:

• In a story already talking about a specific teacher, učiteljica will be understood as the teacher.
• In a context where a teacher is mentioned for the first time, it may be understood as a teacher.

You do not add anything like a or the; you just use the bare noun.

Why does plan not change its ending? Is it in the accusative case?

Yes, plan is in the accusative case as the direct object of opisuje (describes).

For masculine inanimate nouns like plan, the accusative singular form is identical to the nominative singular form:

• nominative: plan (subject)
  Plan je dobar. = The plan is good.
• accusative: plan (object)
  Opisuje plan. = She describes the plan.

So plan is inflected for case here; it just happens that the form in the accusative singular is the same as in the nominative.

What case is izlet in, and which case does za require?

In za izlet, the noun izlet is in the accusative case (singular).

The preposition za almost always takes the accusative and often expresses:

• purpose: za izlet = for the trip / for an excursion
• benefit: za tebe = for you
• destination/goal: za Zagreb (heading for Zagreb, in some uses)

So:

• za
  • accusative = standard pattern
• za izlet = for the trip (as in: a plan intended for that trip)

Could I say o svom planu za izlet instead of svoj plan za izlet? What would be the difference?

Yes, but the meaning and structure change a bit.

• opisuje svoj plan za izlet
  = she describes her (own) plan for the trip
  Here, svoj plan is a direct object in the accusative case.

• opisuje o svom planu za izlet
  would literally be she talks about her plan for the trip,
  but more natural Croatian is: govori o svom planu za izlet = she is talking about her plan for the trip.

So:

• With opisuje + accusative, you focus on the description itself (she is describing the plan in detail).
• With govori o + locative, you focus on speaking/talking about something more loosely.

Using opisuje o is not idiomatic; you either say opisuje plan or govori o planu.

Can I change the word order, like Učiteljica svoj plan za izlet opisuje? Does that change the meaning?

Croatian word order is quite flexible, and both are grammatically correct:

1. Učiteljica opisuje svoj plan za izlet.
2. Učiteljica svoj plan za izlet opisuje.

The basic meaning is the same, but the emphasis shifts slightly.

• Version 1 (original) is the neutral word order: Subject – Verb – Object.
• Version 2 puts svoj plan za izlet before the verb, which can put slightly more focus on the plan (e.g. contrasting it with something else she might describe).

In everyday speech, the original version is the most straightforward and natural as an isolated sentence.

How do I pronounce učiteljica and opisuje? What sounds do č, lj, and j make?

Approximate pronunciation (IPA):

• učiteljica → [uˈtʃitɛljitsa]
• opisuje → [ɔˈpisuje]

Key sounds:

• č = like English ch in church.
• lj = a palatalized l, similar to the lli in million in many accents.
• j = like English y in yes.

Syllable breakdown:

• u-či-te-lji-ca
• o-pi-su-je

Stress in standard Croatian usually falls on the first syllable: Učiteljica, opisuje (with some dialectal and pitch-accent nuances the learner can ignore at the beginning).

How would I say Our teacher is describing our plan for the trip using this structure?

You can use the same pattern, but add naša (our):

• Naša učiteljica opisuje naš plan za izlet.

Notes:

• Naša učiteljica = our (female) teacher
• naš plan = our plan

You would not use svoj here for our plan, because svoj would refer back to the subject (the teacher), not to us. Since we (the owners of the plan) are not the subject of this sentence, you must use naš.