Pjesnikinja mirno čita svoje pjesme u parku.

The poet calmly reads her poems in the park.

Breakdown of Pjesnikinja mirno čita svoje pjesme u parku.

• u: in
• čitati: to read
• park: park
• svoj: own
• mirno: calmly
• pjesma: poem
• pjesnikinja: poet

Questions & Answers about Pjesnikinja mirno čita svoje pjesme u parku.

What extra information does pjesnikinja give compared to just pjesnik?

Pjesnikinja is a specifically feminine noun meaning female poet.

• pjesnik = poet (grammatically masculine; usually interpreted as a man unless context says otherwise)
• pjesnikinja = poetess / female poet

So the sentence explicitly tells you that the poet is a woman.

Is pjesnikinja just the feminine form of pjesnik? Can I always add -inja to make a word feminine?

Yes, pjesnikinja is the feminine counterpart of pjesnik.

However, you cannot always form the feminine by simply adding -inja. Some patterns:

• učitelj → učiteljica (teacher m. → teacher f.)
• glumac → glumica (actor → actress)
• radnik → radnica (worker m. → worker f.)
• pjesnik → pjesnikinja (poet m. → poet f.) – this one uses -inja

So -inja exists but is just one of several feminine-forming endings. You have to learn them word by word.

What grammatical form is čita, and what is its infinitive?

Čita is:

• person: 3rd person
• number: singular
• tense: present
• aspect: imperfective (ongoing / repeated action)

The infinitive is čitati = to read.

So pjesnikinja čita = the (female) poet reads / is reading.

Can Croatian present tense like čita also mean “is reading” (present continuous), not only “reads”?

Yes. Croatian has one present tense that covers both English:

• Pjesnikinja mirno čita svoje pjesme u parku.
  = The poet calmly reads her poems in the park.
  = The poet is calmly reading her poems in the park.

Context usually shows whether it’s a general habit or something happening right now.

What kind of word is mirno here, and why isn’t it mirna or mirne?

Mirno here is an adverb, meaning calmly / peacefully.

• Adjective: miran (calm) – agrees with a noun:
  
  • mirna pjesnikinja = a calm poet (f.)
• Adverb: mirno – describes how she reads:
  
  • Pjesnikinja mirno čita = The poet reads calmly.

Adverbs formed from adjectives often end in -o (e.g. brz → brzo, tih → tiho, miran → mirno), and they do not change for gender, number, or case.

Can mirno be put somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs. For example:

• Pjesnikinja mirno čita svoje pjesme u parku.
• Pjesnikinja čita mirno svoje pjesme u parku.
• Pjesnikinja čita svoje pjesme mirno u parku.

All are grammatical. Different positions slightly change what you emphasize, but the core meaning stays the same.

What case is pjesme, and what is the singular form?

Pjesme here is:

• case: accusative
• number: plural
• gender: feminine

It is the direct object of čita (“reads what?” → pjesme).

The base (dictionary) form is:

• singular nominative: pjesma = poem / song

Relevant forms:

• sg. nominative: pjesma (a poem)
• sg. accusative: pjesmu (a poem – as object)
• pl. nominative: pjesme (poems – as subject)
• pl. accusative: pjesme (poems – as object, same form as nom. pl.)

So in this sentence, pjesme is accusative plural.

What exactly is svoje, and why is it that form and not something like svoja or svoju?

Svoje is the reflexive possessive adjective meaning one’s own, her own here.

It must agree with the noun it modifies, not with the owner:

• noun: pjesme
  
  • feminine
  • plural
  • accusative

The correct matching form is svoje (fem. acc. plural).

Examples of agreement:

• svoja pjesma (fem. sg. nom.) – my/your/her own poem
• svoju pjesmu (fem. sg. acc.) – her own poem (object)
• svoje pjesme (fem. pl. nom./acc.) – her own poems

So svoje here is exactly the form required to match pjesme.

Why do we use svoje instead of njene or njezine for “her poems”?

Svoje is reflexive: it shows that the poems belong to the grammatical subject of the sentence.

• Pjesnikinja mirno čita svoje pjesme.
  = The poet calmly reads her own poems (the poems that she herself wrote).

If you use njezine / njene, it usually suggests someone else’s poems (belonging to some other woman previously mentioned):

• Pjesnikinja mirno čita njezine pjesme.
  = The poet calmly reads her (another woman’s) poems.

So:

• svoje pjesme → poems of the subject (the poet herself)
• njezine / njene pjesme → poems of another female person in context

Could you drop svoje and just say Pjesnikinja mirno čita pjesme u parku?

Yes, you can:

• Pjesnikinja mirno čita pjesme u parku.

This simply means The poet calmly reads poems in the park without specifying whose poems they are. They might be hers or someone else’s; it’s neutral/unspecified.

Adding svoje explicitly tells you that they are her own poems.

Why is it u parku and not u park?

The preposition u can take either accusative or locative, depending on the meaning:

• u + accusative → motion into something
  
  • Idem u park. = I’m going into the park.
• u + locative → location in/inside something
  
  • Čitam u parku. = I read in the park.

In u parku, park is in the locative case (sg. parku), because the sentence describes where she is (static location), not movement into the park.

What case is parku, and what is the base form of the noun?

Parku is:

• case: locative
• number: singular
• gender: masculine

The dictionary form is park (masc. sg. nominative).

A few forms:

• nominative sg.: park (the park)
• accusative sg.: park (to the park – with u
  • acc. for motion)
• locative sg.: parku (in the park – with u
  • loc. for location)

So u parku = in the park.

Can the word order of the whole sentence be changed?

Yes, quite a lot. Croatian allows flexible word order because case endings show grammatical roles. Some natural alternatives:

• Pjesnikinja čita svoje pjesme mirno u parku.
• U parku pjesnikinja mirno čita svoje pjesme.
• Svoje pjesme pjesnikinja mirno čita u parku.

The differences are mostly about emphasis (what you put first or closer to the verb), not about basic meaning. The original order is neutral and straightforward.

Does pjesme mean “songs” as well as “poems”?

Yes. Pjesma can mean both:

• poem
• song

And pjesme is the plural of that same word.

Which one is meant (poems or songs) depends on context. Often, with pjesnikinja / pjesnik it’s understood as poems, and with pjevačica / pjevač (singer) it’s understood as songs.