Breakdown of Djeca se igraju na igralištu poslije škole.
Questions & Answers about Djeca se igraju na igralištu poslije škole.
Se is a reflexive pronoun, but in this verb it doesn’t really mean “themselves” in a literal way.
In Croatian, igrati se is the standard verb for “to play” (intransitively, without naming a specific game or object).
So:
- Djeca se igraju. = The children are (just) playing.
- Djeca igraju nogomet. = The children are playing football.
Here se is part of the dictionary form igrati se, and you normally cannot leave it out if you just mean “to play” in general.
Not in this meaning.
- Djeca se igraju. = The children are (just) playing.
- Djeca igraju. by itself sounds incomplete in Croatian. Listeners expect to hear what they are playing:
- Djeca igraju nogomet. – The children are playing football.
- Djeca igraju šah. – The children are playing chess.
So:
- igrati se = to play (no object)
- igrati [nešto] = to play something (a game, a sport, an instrument, a role, etc.).
Igraju is 3rd person plural, present tense of igrati (se).
It matches the subject djeca (children), which is grammatically plural.
For igrati se in the present tense:
- ja se igram – I play
- ti se igraš – you play (sg, informal)
- on/ona/ono se igra – he/she/it plays
- mi se igramo – we play
- vi se igrate – you play (pl/formal)
- oni/one/ona se igraju – they play
Our sentence uses oni se igraju → Djeca se igraju.
Igralištu is locative singular of igralište (playground).
In Croatian, the preposition na uses:
- accusative when there is movement onto/into a place: na igralište (to the playground)
- locative when something is located at a place: na igralištu (on/at the playground)
Since the children are already playing at the playground (no movement), we use the locative: na igralištu.
Both na and u can mean something like “on/at/in”, but they are used with different types of places and follow common patterns:
na is typically used for open areas, surfaces, squares, fields, playgrounds, etc.:
- na igralištu – at the playground
- na trgu – in the square
- na plaži – on the beach
u is usually used for enclosed spaces, rooms, buildings, cities, countries:
- u kući – in the house
- u školi – at school
- u Zagrebu – in Zagreb
A playground is seen as an open area, so Croatian naturally says na igralištu, not u igralištu.
Škole here is genitive singular of škola.
The preposition poslije (after) always takes the genitive case:
- poslije škole – after (the) school
- poslije ručka – after lunch
- poslije posla – after work
So we say poslije škole, not poslije škola or poslije školu.
You would use the plural škola only if you literally meant “after the schools (plural)”, which is very unusual in this context.
All three can correspond to “after school”, but there are some nuances:
- poslije škole – standard and very common in Croatian.
- nakon škole – also correct; slightly more formal or neutral, often used in writing too.
- posle škole – more typical of Serbian (ekavian); in standard Croatian you’ll mainly see poslije, though posle can appear in speech regionally.
In everyday Croatian, poslije škole and nakon škole are both fine and mean the same.
Yes. Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and several versions are grammatically correct, for example:
- Djeca se igraju na igralištu poslije škole.
- Djeca se poslije škole igraju na igralištu.
- Poslije škole djeca se igraju na igralištu.
The main difference is emphasis and flow, not basic meaning.
For example, starting with Poslije škole makes “after school” more prominent in the sentence.
What would not sound natural is something like Djeca igraju se na igralištu, because se is in the wrong position (see below).
Clitic words like se usually come in the so‑called “second position” in Croatian: after the first stressed word or phrase in the clause.
So you say:
- Djeca se igraju na igralištu. ✅
- Poslije škole djeca se igraju na igralištu. ✅
But:
- Djeca igraju se na igralištu. ❌ sounds wrong; se is too far from the beginning and separated from the verb in an unnatural way.
In practice, you can remember: in simple sentences, put se right after the subject or the first important word.
Croatian doesn’t have a separate “-ing” form like English (no dedicated present continuous).
The present tense can express:
- an action happening right now
- a habitual/repeated action
So Djeca se igraju na igralištu poslije škole could mean:
- The children are (right now) playing at the playground after school.
- or The children (generally) play at the playground after school.
Context (tense of surrounding sentences, time markers) tells you which meaning is intended. With poslije škole, it very often sounds habitual.
Djeca is the nominative plural form of dijete (child) and is used for the subject of the sentence.
The main forms are:
- dijete – child (nom. sg)
- djeca – children (nom. pl, subject form)
- djece – of (the) children (gen. pl)
- djecu – children (acc. pl, as object)
Because the children are the ones doing the action (playing), we must use the nominative: Djeca se igraju….
You would say: Djeca idu na igralište poslije škole.
Two main changes:
Verb:
- idu (they go) from ići replaces se igraju (they play).
Case with na:
- na igralištu (locative) → “at the playground” (location)
- na igralište (accusative) → “to the playground” (movement towards)
Because the children are going to the playground (movement), you switch to na igralište (accusative).
You would say: Dijete se igra na igralištu poslije škole.
Changes compared to the original:
- Djeca (children) → Dijete (child, nominative singular)
- se igraju (3rd person plural) → se igra (3rd person singular)
Everything else (na igralištu, poslije škole) stays the same.