Learn Hardcore Croatian: Mala svakodnevna sreća je šetnja u parku poslije posla. - A small everyday happiness is a walk in the park after work.

In use, it usually means “a little everyday joy / a small pleasure in daily life” – something modest but emotionally important, like a coffee in the morning, a walk, reading, etc. It often carries a warm, slightly sentimental tone, not irony.

Why are there two adjectives (mala and svakodnevna) before sreća, and in that order?

Croatian allows multiple adjectives before a noun. They:

Both agree with sreća (feminine, singular, nominative):
- mala – fem. sg. nom. of mali (“small”)
- svakodnevna – fem. sg. nom. of svakodnevan (“everyday, daily”)
The usual order here is:
- mala – more subjective/qualitative (how big is the happiness? small)
- svakodnevna – more descriptive/classifying (what kind of happiness? everyday)

You could technically reverse them (svakodnevna mala sreća), but mala svakodnevna sreća sounds more natural and idiomatic.

Why is sreća in the form sreća, not sreću, sreći, etc.?

In this sentence, sreća is the subject of the sentence:

Mala svakodnevna sreća je šetnja u parku poslije posla.
→ Little everyday happiness is a walk in the park after work.

Subjects in Croatian are in the nominative case, so you use:

sreća – nominative singular

Forms like sreću, sreći, srećom are other cases (accusative, dative/locative, instrumental) used in different roles.

What is je, and why is it needed here?

Je is the 3rd person singular present of biti (“to be”):

je = “is”

This is a copular sentence, linking the subject to a noun phrase:

Mala svakodnevna sreća (subject)
je (copula “is”)
šetnja u parku poslije posla (complement / what that happiness is)

You normally do not omit je in standard written Croatian here; omitting it would sound incomplete or poetic/elliptical in this kind of sentence.

Why is it šetnja and not the verb šetati (“to walk”)?

Šetnja is a noun meaning “a walk” (the activity as a thing).

In this structure, Croatian prefers a noun phrase after je:

Mala svakodnevna sreća je šetnja… = “Little everyday happiness is a walk…”

Using the infinitive šetati (“to walk”) would sound awkward here:

✗ Mala svakodnevna sreća je šetati u parku… – ungrammatical / unnatural.

So you nominalize the activity with šetnja.

What case is u parku, and why is it used instead of u park?

U parku is:

u
- parku (locative singular of park)

u can take:

accusative for movement into a place
- Idem u park. – “I’m going into the park.”
locative for being in / at a place
- Šetnja u parku. – “A walk in the park.”

Here, the walk happens in the park (location, not motion into it), so locative (parku) is correct.

What case is poslije posla, and why is posla used?

Poslije posla is:

poslije – preposition meaning “after”
posla – genitive singular of posao (“job, work”)

In Croatian, poslije always takes the genitive:

poslije + genitive → poslije posla (“after work”)
e.g. poslije ručka (“after lunch”), poslije škole (“after school”)

So posla is required because poslije governs the genitive case.

Could I say nakon posla instead of poslije posla? Is there any difference?

Yes:

nakon posla and poslije posla both mean “after work”.

Nuances:

poslije – very common and neutral in everyday speech.
nakon – also common; often feels a bit more formal/literary, but fine in speech.

Both are correct in standard Croatian:

Mala svakodnevna sreća je šetnja u parku nakon posla.
Mala svakodnevna sreća je šetnja u parku poslije posla.

What about posle posla – I’ve seen that too. Is it the same?

Posle posla is typical for Serbian (Ekavian standard) and also appears regionally in Bosnia.

In standard Croatian, the usual form is:

poslije posla, not posle posla

So if you’re aiming at Croatian, prefer poslije.

Can I change the word order to Šetnja u parku poslije posla je mala svakodnevna sreća?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct and natural:

Šetnja u parku poslije posla je mala svakodnevna sreća.

Word order in Croatian is fairly flexible. The difference is mostly in emphasis / what you foreground:

Mala svakodnevna sreća je šetnja u parku poslije posla.
→ Focus on the concept “little everyday happiness” and then define it.
Šetnja u parku poslije posla je mala svakodnevna sreća.
→ Start from the concrete activity; you’re saying that this particular thing counts as little everyday happiness.

Both are stylistically fine.

Why is it svakodnevna and not svakodnevno?

svakodnevna – adjective, feminine singular nominative
→ agrees with sreća (noun): svakodnevna sreća
svakodnevno – usually an adverb (“every day, daily”)

Examples:

svakodnevna sreća – “everyday happiness” (adjective + noun)
Svakodnevno šetam u parku. – “I walk in the park every day.” (adverb modifying a verb)

So in front of the noun sreća, you need the adjective form svakodnevna, not the adverb svakodnevno.

How do you pronounce svakodnevna and šetnja? Anything tricky for an English speaker?

Pronunciation tips:

svakodnevna: roughly sva-ko-dnev-na
- sv as in “swan”
- a, o, e, a are pure vowels (no diphthongs)
- stress typically on -dnev- in natural speech (svakodnèvna), but stress marks aren’t written.
šetnja: roughly sheht-nya
- š = English sh (as in “shoe”)
- nj = one sound, a palatal ny (similar to Spanish ñ in niño)
- So šetnja ≈ “SHEHT-nya” in English approximation.

The nj cluster is one of the main new sounds to get used to.

Could I shorten the phrase, for example to Mala sreća je šetnja u parku poslije posla? Would it still sound natural?

Yes, you can say:

Mala sreća je šetnja u parku poslije posla.

It’s grammatically correct and natural; you just lose the nuance “everyday/daily”:

mala svakodnevna sreća – a small happiness that is a regular, everyday part of life.
mala sreća – a small happiness, but not clearly tied to being daily or routine.

So it’s fine; it just becomes a bit more general.

Is there any sense of “a” vs “the” in mala svakodnevna sreća or šetnja u parku? I don’t see articles.

Croatian does not have articles like English a / an / the.

mala svakodnevna sreća can correspond to:
- “a little everyday happiness”
- “the little everyday happiness”
- or even an abstract “little everyday happiness” in general
šetnja u parku can mean:
- “a walk in the park”
- “the walk in the park”

Context and word order supply definiteness or generality; it isn’t marked by separate words.