Learn Hardcore Croatian: Urednica danas radi u uredu i piše članak. - The editor is working in the office today and writing an article.

urednica = female editor (a person, feminine noun)
ured = office (place, dictionary/basic form, masculine noun)
uredu = in the office (same noun ured, but in the locative case, used after many prepositions like u “in” when talking about location)

So the sentence literally says: The (female) editor today works in-the-office and writes an article.

Why is it u uredu and not u ured?

In Croatian, prepositions like u (“in”) are usually followed by a specific case of the noun.

For location (being inside something), u requires the locative case.
The locative of ured is uredu.

So:

u ured – would suggest motion into the office, but even then you’d normally say u ured with accusative, which for ured looks the same as nominative; however, in practice people often use u ured (motion) vs u uredu (location).
u uredu – in the office (location, which is what we need here)

Thus danas radi u uredu = today (she) works in the office.

How do I know that urednica is feminine?

Croatian often uses noun endings to mark natural gender:

Nouns ending in -ica are very often feminine and usually refer to female persons:
- urednik – male editor
- urednica – female editor
- učitelj – male teacher / učiteljica – female teacher
- student – male student / studentica – female student

So urednica is clearly marked as feminine, and we know the subject is she, not he.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in the Croatian sentence?

Croatian has no articles (no equivalent to English a / an / the).

urednica can mean an editor or the editor, depending on context.
članak can be an article or the article.

The learner will usually decide whether to translate it as definite (the) or indefinite (a/an) based on context, not grammar markers. In isolation, Urednica danas radi u uredu i piše članak could be:

The editor is working in the office today and writing an article, or
An editor is working in the office today and writing an article.

Why is it just radi and not something like je radi for “is working”?

Croatian does not form the present continuous with “to be” + -ing like English does.

English: She is working
Croatian: Ona radi (literally: she works)

The same simple present form radi covers:

she works (habitual)
she is working (right now)

Context tells you which meaning fits. So Urednica danas radi u uredu can be translated either as:

The editor works in the office today (e.g., on today’s schedule), or
The editor is working in the office today (right now / today only).

What is the difference between radi (from raditi) and piše (from pisati)?

They are both present tense of different verbs:

raditi – to work
- (ona) radi – she works / she is working
pisati – to write
- (ona) piše – she writes / she is writing

Both are imperfective verbs, which means they describe ongoing or repeated actions, not completed ones.

If you wanted to stress completion, you’d typically use perfective partners:

napisati – to write (and finish)
- (ona) napiše članak – she writes/finishes the article (gets it done)

Does Croatian have a separate form for “she writes” vs “she is writing”?

No. The same present tense form is used for both:

Ona piše članak.
- She writes an article (habit, regular job)
- She is writing an article (right now / these days)

Context and sometimes adverbs (like sada “now”, uvijek “always”) help to clarify:

Sada piše članak. – She is writing an article now.
Često piše članke. – She often writes articles.

Why is the word order Urednica danas radi u uredu i piše članak? Can I move danas or other words?

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and changes usually affect emphasis, not basic grammar.

All of these are possible and correct:

Urednica danas radi u uredu i piše članak.
Danas urednica radi u uredu i piše članak. (stronger emphasis on “today”)
Urednica radi danas u uredu i piše članak. (emphasis a bit more on “today” than on “works”)

However, the neutral, very natural order for this sentence is close to what you saw:

[Subject] [time] [verb] [place] [and] [verb] [object]
Urednica danas radi u uredu i piše članak.

Why is it članak and not some other ending? Is that a special case form?

Here članak is in the accusative singular (direct object), but for masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative form often looks the same as nominative:

Nominative: članak – article (subject)
Accusative: članak – article (object)

For a person, it would usually change:

Nominative: urednik – editor (subject)
Accusative: urednika – editor (object)

So piše članak = she writes an article, with članak as a direct object.

What does the i mean, and do I need to repeat it like in English “and writes and edits”?

i is the normal conjunction “and”.

In this sentence it simply joins two verbs that share the same subject (urednica) and the same time frame (danas):

radi u uredu – works in the office
piše članak – writes an article

Together: Urednica danas radi u uredu i piše članak.

You usually don’t repeat i unless you want special emphasis or it’s a longer list:

Piše, uređuje i objavljuje članke. – She writes, edits and publishes articles.

Why is there no subject pronoun like ona “she”? When do I need to use it?

Croatian is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, ona, etc.) are often omitted because the verb form or the noun already shows who the subject is.

Urednica danas radi... – the noun urednica already tells us who.
If you used a pronoun instead of the noun, you’d say: Ona danas radi u uredu i piše članak.

You add the pronoun when:

You want to emphasize the subject:
- Ona danas radi u uredu, a ne on. – She is working in the office today, not him.
You’re contrasting subjects:
- Ona piše članak, a urednik uređuje. – She writes the article, and the (male) editor edits it.

Could this sentence also mean “The editor often works in the office and writes an article”?

The adverb danas specifically means “today”, so it points to this day, not to a general habit.

Urednica danas radi u uredu i piše članak.
- The editor is working in the office today and writing an article.

If you wanted a general, habitual statement, you’d typically use adverbs like:

često – often
obično – usually
svaki dan – every day

For example:

Urednica često radi u uredu i piše članke.
– The editor often works in the office and writes articles.