Questions & Answers about Lagano dišem u parku.
Lagano is an adverb derived from the adjective lagan (light, not heavy; gentle; easy).
In this sentence, lagano dišem u parku most naturally means:
- I breathe gently / calmly / lightly in the park.
It can overlap with:
- “slowly” – similar to polako, but lagano suggests gentleness or lightness more than just low speed.
- “lightly / gently” – soft, not forced, relaxed breathing.
Context will decide the best English translation, but the core idea is that the breathing is not heavy, not strained.
The subject “I” (ja) is implied in the verb ending and usually omitted in Croatian.
- diš*e*m = 1st person singular, “I breathe”.
So:
- Lagano dišem u parku. = I am breathing gently in the park.
- Ja lagano dišem u parku. – also correct, but ja adds emphasis (e.g. “I am breathing gently”, maybe in contrast to someone else).
Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (ja, ti, on, ona, …) are normally left out unless you want to stress or clarify them.
The infinitive is disati = to breathe.
Present tense (imperfective, “to be breathing / to breathe”) looks like this:
- ja dišem – I breathe
- ti dišeš – you (sg) breathe
- on/ona/ono diše – he/she/it breathes
- mi dišemo – we breathe
- vi dišete – you (pl/formal) breathe
- oni/one/ona dišu – they breathe
Note the stem change:
- infinitive: dis‑ati
- present: diš‑em, diš‑eš… (s → š, a → e in the ending).
In Croatian, the simple present tense covers both English forms:
- Lagano dišem u parku. can mean:
- I breathe gently in the park (habitual), or
- I am breathing gently in the park (right now).
Context or additional words (e.g. sad = now, svaki dan = every day) show which nuance is intended.
Parku is in the locative singular case.
The preposition u can take:
- locative (for location: in/at somewhere)
- accusative (for direction: into / to somewhere)
Compare:
- Lagano dišem u parku. – I (am) breathing gently *in the park. (location → locative: *parku)
- Idem u park. – I am going *to the park. (direction → accusative: *park)
So here, because you are already in the park, you use u + locative → u parku.
Formally, parku is locative here, because it is used with a preposition of place (u = in) to express location.
It’s true that for many masculine and neuter nouns, the dative and locative singular endings are identical (-u), for example:
- park → dative/locative parku
- grad (city) → gradu
You tell them apart not by form, but by function:
- Dative: usually indicates an indirect object (to/for someone).
- Locative: usually used only with prepositions (u, na, o, po, etc.) to indicate location or topic.
In u parku, the function is clearly locative.
Yes, you can also say:
- Dišem lagano u parku.
- U parku lagano dišem.
- U parku dišem lagano.
All are grammatically correct and broadly mean the same thing.
Subtle differences:
- Lagano dišem u parku. – neutral, starting with how you breathe.
- Dišem lagano u parku. – neutral, starting with the verb breathe.
- U parku lagano dišem. – starts by setting the place (in the park) as context.
- U parku dišem lagano. – slightly stronger emphasis on dišem as the thing you do there.
Croatian allows quite flexible word order; you usually adjust it for emphasis or flow, not grammar.
In this sentence, lagano is an adverb; it modifies the verb dišem (how you breathe).
- As an adverb: lagano dišem – I breathe gently / lightly.
There is also an adjective lagan (light, not heavy; gentle), whose neuter singular form is also lagano:
- lagan (m), lagana (f), lagano (n) – e.g. lagano jelo = a light meal.
So formally, lagano can be either adjective (neuter) or adverb depending on context.
Here, since it describes the manner of breathing, it is an adverb.
Approximate pronunciation (IPA and English hints):
lagano – /ˈlaɡano/
- la – like la in lava
- ga – like ga in gutter
- no – like no in note (shorter)
- stress on the first syllable: LA-ga-no
dišem – /ˈdiʃem/
- di – like dee but a bit shorter
- š = sh in ship
- em – em as in them (without th)
- stress on DI: DI-šem
u – /u/ – like oo in food.
parku – /ˈparku/
- par – like par in park (British-ish)
- ku – like koo in cool (shorter)
- stress on par: PAR-ku
Whole sentence: LA-ga-no DI-šem u PAR-ku.
Both can often be translated as “slowly / gently”, but they have slightly different focuses:
lagano – highlights lightness, gentleness, effortlessness.
- lagano dišem – my breathing is light, not heavy or strained.
polako – highlights slowness, taking your time.
- polako dišem – my breathing is slow, unhurried.
In many relaxed-breathing contexts, both are possible:
- Lagano dišem / Polako dišem. But:
- If you want to stress no heaviness, relaxed, easy breathing → lagano.
- If you want to stress tempo (speed) → polako.
You negate the verb by adding ne in front of it:
- Ne dišem lagano u parku. – I am not breathing gently in the park.
Other word orders are also possible:
- Lagano ne dišem u parku. – a bit unusual; could sound like you’re emphasizing lagano in contrast to some other manner (e.g. I am not breathing gently, I’m breathing heavily).
Disati / dišem is an imperfective verb:
- It describes an ongoing or repeated action (process) – breathing as a continuous activity.
There isn’t a single simple perfective that means just “breathe once” in the same broad way. Instead, Croatian tends to use related perfective verbs for a single act like taking a breath:
- udahnut(i) – to inhale (perfective: udahnem, udahneš…)
- izdahnut(i) – to exhale
- dahnuti – to give a short breath / sigh, etc.
So:
- Lagano dišem u parku. – I am breathing gently in the park. (ongoing process)
- Lagano udahnem u parku. – I gently take a breath in the park. (a single, completed inhalation).