Learn Hardcore Croatian: U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer. - On Tuesday we often study Croatian in the evening.

U utorak
- u = preposition in / on
- utorak = Tuesday in the accusative case
- This pattern (u + accusative) is standard for specific days:
  - u ponedjeljak – on Monday
  - u utorak – on Tuesday
  - u srijedu – on Wednesday
Utorkom
- This is the instrumental singular of utorak used in a temporal sense.
- It means on Tuesdays / on Tuesday(s) in general, usually more habitual or general than a single specific date.

So:

U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer.
→ On Tuesday we often study Croatian in the evening (can be habitual, but also fits a specific coming Tuesday).
Utorkom često učimo hrvatski navečer.
→ On Tuesdays we often study Croatian in the evening (emphasizes a repeated pattern every Tuesday).

You cannot say u utorku here; that would be the locative case and is not used for days in this time expression.

Why is utorak in this form? Which case is it?

In U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer, the word utorak is in the accusative singular.

Form: nominative utorak → accusative utorak (same shape here)
Function: time expression with preposition u meaning on Tuesday.

With days of the week, u + accusative is the usual way to say on [day]:

u nedjelju (Sunday) – note the change from nedjelja to nedjelju
u petak (Friday) – same form nominative/accusative

So even though utorak looks like nominative, its role in the sentence is accusative with a temporal meaning.

Why is there no we in the Croatian sentence? Where is the subject?

Croatian usually drops subject pronouns (it’s a pro-drop language) because the verb ending already tells you the subject.

učimo is present, 1st person plural → we study / we are studying.
So mi učimo = we study, but mi is normally omitted unless you want to emphasize we.

In Croatian, all of these are correct, but differ slightly in emphasis:

U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer. – neutral, most natural.
Mi u utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer. – emphasizes we (as opposed to someone else).

How is the verb učiti conjugated here, and what exactly does učimo mean?

Učimo is the present tense of učiti (to study / to learn):

Singular:

(ja) učim – I study
(ti) učiš – you study (sg., informal)
(on/ona/ono) uči – he/she/it studies

Plural:

(mi) učimo – we study
(vi) učite – you study (pl. or formal)
(oni/one/ona) uče – they study

So učimo = we study / we are studying.
In this sentence, with često (often), the present tense expresses a habitual action: something we do regularly.

What is the role of često here, and can I move it around in the sentence?

Često means often and is an adverb of frequency.

In U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer it modifies učimo (we study).

Most natural positions for često in this sentence are:

U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer. (very natural)
Često u utorak učimo hrvatski navečer. (emphasizes often slightly more)
U utorak učimo često hrvatski navečer. (possible, but less neutral-sounding)

Putting često right before or right after the main verb is common.
Avoid putting it at the very end; …hrvatski navečer često usually sounds less natural in this context.

Why is it hrvatski and not hrvatski jezik, and what case is it?

Hrvatski here stands for hrvatski jezik (Croatian language). The noun jezik (language) is simply omitted because it’s obvious from context. This is very common:

učiti engleski (jezik) – to study English
učiti njemački (jezik) – to study German
učiti hrvatski (jezik) – to study Croatian

Grammatically:

jezik is masculine singular.
After učiti (a transitive verb), its object goes to accusative.
Accusative masculine singular for an adjective with a masculine inanimate noun is the same as nominative:
- hrvatski jezik (nom.)
- učimo hrvatski (jezik) (acc.)

So hrvatski here is an adjective in the accusative masculine singular, modifying an understood noun (jezik).

Could we say hrvatskog instead of hrvatski?

Not in this sentence and meaning.

hrvatski (here) is adjective, accusative masculine singular used with an implied noun jezik:
- učimo hrvatski (jezik) – we are studying Croatian (language)
hrvatskog could be:
- genitive masculine singular: e.g. nema hrvatskog jezika – there is no Croatian language
- or accusative masculine singular, animate: e.g. vidim hrvatskog učitelja – I see the Croatian teacher

Because jezik (language) is inanimate, its accusative form behaves like the nominative: hrvatski jezik → učimo hrvatski jezik.

So hrvatskog would be wrong here with the meaning “study Croatian (language)”.

What does navečer mean exactly, and how is it different from večer or u večer?

večer – noun: evening
- večer je – it is evening
- dobra večer – good evening
navečer – adverb: in the evening / at night (in the evening time)
- učimo hrvatski navečer – we study Croatian in the evening
u večer is not used in this sense; the natural forms are:
- navečer – in the evening (general)
- or uvečer (spelled together) – also “in the evening”, somewhat stylistic/variant

In time expressions like this sentence, navečer (or uvečer) is the normal choice, not u večer.

Why are there two time expressions: U utorak and navečer? Is that normal and is there a preferred order?

Yes, it is normal in Croatian to stack time expressions from larger to smaller unit:

Day / date / period:
- U utorak – on Tuesday
Part of the day:
- navečer – in the evening

Standard order is:

[day/date] + [frequency] + [verb] + [object] + [part of day]

So:

U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer.

Reordering both time expressions is possible but less neutral.
For example, Navečer u utorak često učimo hrvatski is grammatically okay but sounds marked / less natural in everyday speech.

Is the present tense učimo here more like “we study” (habit) or “we are studying” (right now)?

In this sentence, with često (often) and time expressions u utorak … navečer, the present tense clearly expresses a habitual action:

U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer.
→ We often study Croatian on Tuesday evenings.

Croatian present tense can mean both:

current action (we are studying now), or
habitual / repeated action (we study often),

and context words like često, svaki dan, obično decide which reading is intended. Here it is clearly habitual.

Why is utorak not capitalized in Croatian, while Tuesday is capitalized in English?

Croatian capitalization rules are different from English:

Days of the week: lowercase
- ponedjeljak, utorak, srijeda, četvrtak, petak, subota, nedjelja
Months, languages, nationalities: also lowercase
- siječanj, veljača…
- hrvatski, engleski, njemački…

So:

U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer.
In English: On Tuesday we often study Croatian in the evening.

The English version capitalizes Tuesday and Croatian; the Croatian version does not.

Can I change the word order, for example: Često u utorak navečer učimo hrvatski? Does the meaning change?

You can change the word order quite flexibly in Croatian, but it can affect focus and naturalness.

Some acceptable variants, all with basically the same meaning:

U utorak često učimo hrvatski navečer. – very natural, neutral.
Često u utorak učimo hrvatski navečer. – emphasizes often a bit more.
U utorak navečer često učimo hrvatski. – slightly more focus on Tuesday evening as a block.
Često u utorak navečer učimo hrvatski. – also okay, with stronger initial focus on often.

Generally:

Keep učimo (the verb) relatively early.
Keep related time expressions (u utorak, navečer) close to each other or close to the verb.
Don’t split them in a way that makes the sentence hard to follow.

Your proposed Često u utorak navečer učimo hrvatski is grammatically correct and understandable, but the original order is a bit more neutral in everyday use.