Learn Hardcore Croatian: Na festival dolaze susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva. - Neighbors from the whole neighborhood come to the festival.

na + accusative (na festival) is used for:
- events: na koncert, na utakmicu, na zabavu, na festival
- surfaces / open areas: na stol, na plažu
u + accusative (u) is used for going into an enclosed space:
- u kuću (into the house)
- u školu (to school, into the building)

A festival is treated as an event you attend, so Croatian uses na festival, not u festival.

What case is festival in, and why?

Festival is in the accusative singular: na festival.

Reason:

The preposition na with motion (going somewhere) takes the accusative.
The verb dolaziti (they are coming) expresses movement toward a destination.

Pattern:

Idem na festival. – I am going to the festival.
Dolaze na festival. – They are coming to the festival.

Who is the subject of the sentence: festival or susjedi?

The subject is susjedi (neighbors).

Structure:

Na festival – prepositional phrase (destination)
dolaze – verb (3rd person plural)
susjedi – subject (who is coming?)

You can reorder it to see this clearly:

Susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva dolaze na festival.
→ Susjedi (subject) dolaze (verb) na festival (where to).

The verb dolaze is plural to agree with plural susjedi.

What’s the difference between susjedi and susjedstvo?

susjed – a (male) neighbor
susjedi – neighbors (plural, people)
susjedstvo – the neighborhood (the area / community)

In the sentence:

susjedi = the actual people who are coming
iz cijelog susjedstva = from the whole area / neighborhood

So it literally says:
Neighbors from the whole neighborhood are coming to the festival.

Isn’t susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva kind of redundant? Why say “neighbors from the whole neighborhood”?

It can sound repetitive in English, but in Croatian it’s natural and adds emphasis:

susjedi – tells you who is coming (neighbors, not strangers)
iz cijelog susjedstva – adds how many / from where exactly (not only from one building or one street, but from all over the neighborhood)

It has the nuance:

“Neighbors from all over the neighborhood are coming.”

You could drop the phrase and say just:

Na festival dolaze susjedi. – Neighbors are coming to the festival.

But then you lose the idea of from the entire neighborhood.

Why is it iz cijelog susjedstva and not something like od cijelog susjedstva?

Both iz and od can translate as “from”, but:

iz is used for:
- from inside a place / area:
  - iz kuće (from the house)
  - iz grada (from the city)
  - iz susjedstva (from the neighborhood)
od is used more for:
- from a person or source:
  - dobio sam pismo od prijatelja (I got a letter from a friend)
  - posudio sam knjigu od njega (I borrowed a book from him)

Since susjedstvo is an area, the natural choice is iz susjedstva.

What case is cijelog susjedstva, and why does cijelog end in -og instead of -o?

Cijelog susjedstva is in the genitive singular.

susjedstvo (neuter noun) → genitive singular: susjedstva
cijelo (neuter adjective “whole”) → genitive singular: cijelog

Reason:

The preposition iz always takes the genitive case.
Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
So cijelog agrees with genitive singular neuter susjedstva.

Nominative (dictionary form) would be:

cijelo susjedstvo – the whole neighborhood

In the sentence, because of iz, we get:

iz cijelog susjedstva – from the whole neighborhood

Could I say Na festival dolazi susjedstvo to mean “The whole neighborhood is coming to the festival”?

You can say Na festival dolazi susjedstvo, but it sounds a bit more abstract:

Na festival dolazi susjedstvo.
→ “The neighborhood is coming to the festival” (as a community, as a whole group)

The original sentence:

Na festival dolaze susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva.
→ emphasizes individual people (neighbors) coming, from all over the neighborhood.

So:

susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva – focuses on the people, and suggests many and from everywhere in that area.
susjedstvo dolazi – can sound like you’re treating the neighborhood as a single unit.

Both are understandable; the original is more natural if you want to talk about people actually attending.

Can I change the word order to Susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva dolaze na festival? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can, and the basic meaning stays the same.

Both are correct:

Na festival dolaze susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva.
Susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva dolaze na festival.

Nuances:

Starting with Na festival slightly emphasizes the event:
→ “To the festival, (it is) neighbors from the whole neighborhood (who) are coming.”
Starting with Susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva emphasizes who is coming.
This is closer to normal English word order: subject–verb–place.

Croatian word order is flexible; grammar is shown mostly by endings, not position.

Why is the verb dolaze (plural) and not dolazi (singular)?

The verb must agree with the subject in person and number.

Subject: susjedi – plural (neighbors)
Verb: dolaziti (to come), 3rd person plural present: dolaze

Conjugation (present, for reference):

ja dolazim – I come / am coming
ti dolaziš – you come
on/ona/ono dolazi – he/she/it comes
mi dolazimo – we come
vi dolazite – you (pl/formal) come
oni/one/ona dolaze – they come

Since it’s “they (neighbors) are coming”, we use dolaze.

What’s the difference between dolaze (from dolaziti) and doći?

Croatian has aspect:

dolaziti – imperfective (process, repeated / ongoing)
doći – perfective (single, completed arrival)

In the sentence:

Na festival dolaze susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva.
→ describes a general or ongoing situation:
“(The) neighbors are coming / come (to the festival).”

If you want to emphasize the completed act of arriving (future or one-time), you’d use doći:

Na festival će doći susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva.
→ Neighbors from the whole neighborhood will come (will arrive) at the festival.

So:

dolaze – focuses on the process / habit / current action.
doći – focuses on the moment of arrival as a single event.

How do you pronounce susjedi and what does the j do there?

Susjedi is pronounced roughly like: [SOOS-ye-dee].

Breakdown:

su – like “soo”
sj – pronounced like “sy” or a soft “s” + “y”
je – like “ye” in “yes” (this is where j = English y)
di – like “dee”

In Croatian:

j is always pronounced like English “y” in yes.
It never makes a “dʒ” sound like English “j” in job.

So susjedi ≈ “SOOS-ye-dee”, not “sus-jed-ee”.

How do I know if susjedi means “the neighbors” or “neighbors” (without “the”)?

Croatian has no articles (the, a, an), so susjedi by itself can mean:

the neighbors
(some) neighbors
neighbors in general

Context decides. In this sentence:

Na festival dolaze susjedi iz cijelog susjedstva.

Because it says “from the whole neighborhood”, in natural English we would usually translate it as:

“The neighbors from the whole neighborhood are coming to the festival.”

But grammatically, Croatian doesn’t mark “the” vs “a”; that’s an interpretation based on context.