Learn Hardcore Croatian: Za svaki važan događaj u susjedstvu pišemo kratki program. - For every important event in the neighborhood we write a short program.

The base form of the noun is događaj (event), masculine.
In the accusative singular (for an inanimate noun), it looks the same as the nominative: događaj.

The phrase svaki važan događaj is therefore masculine accusative singular, agreeing with za:

svaki – masculine accusative singular of svaki (every)
važan – masculine accusative singular of važan (important)
događaj – masculine accusative singular (same form as nominative here)

So za svaki važan događaj literally: for every important event (all in accusative after za).

What case is u susjedstvu, and why is it susjedstvu and not susjedstvo?

U susjedstvu is in the locative case.

The preposition u can take:

Accusative – when there is motion into something (e.g. u susjedstvo = into the neighborhood)
Locative – when something is in/at a place (no movement)

In your sentence, the events are happening in the neighborhood, not moving into it, so u uses locative.

The noun:

Nominative singular: susjedstvo (neuter, “neighborhood”)
Locative singular: u susjedstvu

So u susjedstvu means in the neighborhood, with susjedstvu as the locative form.

Why is it pišemo and not something like napišemo or pisali smo?

Pišemo is the present tense, imperfective aspect of pisati (to write).

Here it expresses a habitual action:

pišemo kratki program = we (generally, regularly) write a short program

If you used:

napišemo (perfective) – it would usually mean we will write / we manage to write a short program (once or on a particular occasion).
pisali smo – we wrote (past tense, imperfective) – talking about the past habit or past action, not a general present habit.

So pišemo matches the idea “Whenever such an event happens, we (tend to) write a short program.”

Why is it kratki program and not kratak program?

Kratak is the base (dictionary) form of the adjective “short” (masculine nominative singular).

In the sentence, kratki program is the direct object of pišemo, so it’s in the accusative singular masculine. For many masculine adjectives, the accusative form is -i rather than -ak.

Forms of this adjective:

Nominative singular masculine: kratak program (as the subject: The short program is ready. – Kratak program je gotov.)
Accusative singular masculine (inanimate object): kratki program (We are writing a short program. – Pišemo kratki program.)

So kratki is simply the correct case form agreeing with program in this grammatical role.

What case is kratki program, and how do its parts agree?

Kratki program is in the accusative singular masculine, as the direct object of pišemo.

Agreement:

program – masculine inanimate noun, accusative singular (same form as nominative)
kratki – masculine accusative singular of the adjective kratak

In Croatian, adjectives must agree with their noun in:

Gender (masculine)
Number (singular)
Case (accusative)

So: pišemo (koga/što?) kratki program – we write (what?) a short program.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Pišemo kratki program za svaki važan događaj u susjedstvu instead?

The word order is flexible in Croatian, and your alternative is correct:

Pišemo kratki program za svaki važan događaj u susjedstvu.

Differences are mostly about emphasis and focus, not grammar:

Original: Za svaki važan događaj u susjedstvu pišemo kratki program.
- Emphasis slightly on the condition: For every important event in the neighborhood, we write a short program.
Alternative: Pišemo kratki program za svaki važan događaj u susjedstvu.
- More neutral, starting with what “we do” (we write a short program) and then specifying for what.

Both orders are natural in context; Croatian uses word order to highlight what’s new or important information.

Why svaki važan događaj (singular) instead of a plural like sve važne događaje?

Croatian often uses svaki + singular to express a general rule about all individual instances:

za svaki važan događaj = for every important event (each one, individually)

If you say:

za sve važne događaje = for all important events (as a group or set)

Grammatically:

svaki važan događaj – masculine singular (generalization over single items)
sve važne događaje – masculine plural accusative (talking about the whole collection)

Both are correct, but the singular with svaki is the standard way to express “for every (each) important event.”

What gender are događaj, program, and susjedstvo, and why do the adjectives look different?

događaj – masculine noun
- važan događaj – važan is masculine singular (nominative/accusative)
program – masculine noun
- kratki program – kratki is masculine singular accusative (object form of kratak)
susjedstvo – neuter noun
- u susjedstvu – locative singular; if you used an adjective, it might be u mirnom susjedstvu (“in a quiet neighborhood”), where mirnom is neuter locative singular.

Adjectives change their endings to match the noun’s:

Gender: masculine vs neuter
Number: singular vs plural
Case: nominative, accusative, locative, etc.

Can I drop the adjectives and just say Za svaki događaj u susjedstvu pišemo program?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

Za svaki događaj u susjedstvu pišemo program.
- For every event in the neighborhood, we write a program.

Dropping važan and kratki:

Makes the sentence more general and less specific.
Loses the nuance that only important events are included and that the program is short.

But structurally, the sentence remains fully correct and natural.

How would I make this sentence negative in Croatian?

To negate it, you add ne in front of the verb pišemo:

Za svaki važan događaj u susjedstvu ne pišemo kratki program.
- For every important event in the neighborhood we do not write a short program.

Key points:

The negative particle ne comes immediately before the verb.
The rest of the sentence (cases, prepositions, word order) does not have to change.