Learn Hardcore Croatian: Djeca vole crtati u učionici. - Children like to draw in the classroom.

Whether you mean “children like to draw in a classroom” or “children like to draw in the classroom” is understood from context, not from a separate word.

So:

Djeca vole crtati u učionici.
can be translated as either
“Children like to draw in the classroom.”
or
“Children like to draw in a classroom.”

You don’t need to add anything like the; you simply say učionici with the correct case ending (locative) and let context do the rest.

Why is it Djeca vole and not something like Djeca volju?

The verb is voljeti (to love / to like), and its present-tense forms are:

ja volim – I like
ti voliš – you like (sg.)
on/ona/ono voli – he/she/it likes
mi volimo – we like
vi volite – you like (pl./formal)
oni/one/ona vole – they like

So for they (children) like, you must use vole, the 3rd person plural form.

Djeca (children) is grammatically plural, so the verb must also be plural:

Djeca vole crtati. – Children like to draw.
Not: ✗ Djeca volju crtati. (that form doesn’t exist)

Why is crtati in the infinitive form here?

In Croatian, when you say someone likes / loves / wants / plans to do something, you normally use the infinitive for the action verb.

So:

voljeti + infinitive
- Djeca vole crtati. – Children like to draw.
- Volim čitati. – I like to read.
htjeti + infinitive
- Djeca žele crtati. – The children want to draw.

If you wanted to say “The children are drawing in the classroom (right now)”, you would use a finite verb instead of the infinitive:

Djeca crtaju u učionici. – The children are drawing in the classroom.

Why is the word for children djeca, and not just a regular plural like djecI or similar?

Djeca is an irregular word. It works like this:

Singular: dijete – a child
Plural: djeca – children

A few important points:

Djeca is grammatically neuter plural, even though it refers to people.
- Djeca su mala. – The children are small.
  (adjective mala and verb su are plural)
You never say ✗ djecI as a nominative plural form. The correct plural subject form is always djeca.
Verbs that go with djeca are always plural:
- Djeca vole crtati. – Children like to draw.
  Not: ✗ Djeca voli crtati.

So in your sentence, Djeca vole crtati u učionici., both djeca and vole are correctly plural.

Why is it u učionici and not u učionica or u učioniku?

This is about cases. Croatian changes noun endings depending on grammatical function.

The basic (dictionary) form is:

učionica – classroom (nominative singular)

With the preposition u meaning in (location, “inside”), you must use the locative case:

u učionici – in the classroom

Declension of učionica (singular) looks like this:

Nominative: učionica – the classroom (subject)
Genitive: učionice – of the classroom
Dative: učionici – to/for the classroom
Accusative: učionicu – (into) the classroom (movement)
Locative: učionici – in the classroom (location)
Instrumental: učionicom – with the classroom

Locative and dative share the same form here (učionici), and after u in the sense of “in (a place)”, you use locative:

Djeca vole crtati u učionici. – Children like to draw in the classroom.

What is the difference between u učionici and u učionicu?

Both use u, but the case (and meaning) changes:

u učionici – in the classroom
- locative: describes location, where something happens.
- Djeca vole crtati u učionici. – Children like to draw in the classroom.
u učionicu – into the classroom
- accusative: describes movement towards/into a place.
- Učitelj ulazi u učionicu. – The teacher is entering the classroom.

So:

No movement → u učionici (locative)
Movement into → u učionicu (accusative)

Can I change the word order, for example U učionici djeca vole crtati? Does it sound natural?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and all of these are possible and grammatical:

Djeca vole crtati u učionici.
Djeca u učionici vole crtati.
U učionici djeca vole crtati.

They all basically mean the same thing: Children like to draw in the classroom.

Differences are mostly in emphasis:

Starting with Djeca focuses on children.
Starting with U učionici emphasizes the place (“In the classroom, children like to draw.”).

For a neutral, simple sentence, Djeca vole crtati u učionici. is perfectly natural.

Why don’t we need a pronoun like Oni (“they”) before vole?

Croatian usually omits subject pronouns when the subject is clear from the verb form or from context.

In your sentence, the subject is explicitly mentioned:

Djeca vole crtati u učionici.
Djeca is already the subject, so adding Oni would be redundant.

If the subject were only a pronoun, you could still drop it:

(Oni) vole crtati u učionici. – They like to draw in the classroom.

Here, Oni is optional because the verb ending -e in vole already indicates they.

Does vole crtati mean “like to draw” in general, or “are liking to draw right now”?

The Croatian present tense often covers both:

Habitual / general (like English “like to draw”):
- Djeca vole crtati u učionici.
  → Children (generally) like to draw in the classroom.
Current state (similar to English “they like drawing (right now / as a preference)”).

Croatian doesn’t have a special -ing form like English for present continuous separate from simple present. Context usually tells you whether you’re talking about a general habit or a present situation.

To describe an action happening at this moment, you normally change the main verb, not the structure:

Djeca crtaju u učionici. – The children are drawing in the classroom (right now).

What’s the difference between crtati and a verb like nacrtati?

This is about aspect (ongoing vs completed actions):

crtati – to draw (imperfective)
Focuses on the ongoing activity, not on finishing:
- Djeca vole crtati. – Children like (the activity of) drawing.
nacrtati – to draw (and finish drawing) / to complete a drawing (perfective)
Focuses on the result / completion:
- Djeca žele nacrtati kuću. – The children want to draw (and complete) a house.

In a sentence about liking the activity itself, you almost always use the imperfective form:

vole crtati, not ✗ vole nacrtati.

How do you pronounce Djeca vole crtati u učionici? The consonant clusters and special letters look difficult.

Approximate pronunciation (with English-friendly hints):

Djeca – roughly DYET-sa
- dj = close to “dy” in “duty” (British-like)
- je = “ye”
- c = “ts” (like ts in “cats”)
vole – VOH-leh
- o like in “or” but shorter
- e like “e” in “get”
crtati – CR-ta-tee
- c = “ts”
- r is trilled; cr sounds a bit like “tsr” with a rolled r
- a like “a” in “father”
- i = “ee”
u – oo (like “oo” in “food”, but short)
učionici – oo-chee-OH-nee-tsee
- u = “oo”
- č = “ch” in “chocolate” (hard ch)
- io gives a slight “yo” glide
- c = “ts”
- i = “ee”

So said smoothly:
Djeca vole crtati u učionici.
→ roughly: DYET-sa VOH-leh TSR-ta-tee oo oo-chee-OH-nee-tsee.