Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.

The children are sticking photos on the wall.

Breakdown of Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.

• dijete: child
• na: on
• zid: wall
• fotografija: photo
• lijepiti: to stick

Questions & Answers about Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.

What does “Djeca” mean, and why is it not “dijete”?

Djeca means “children.”
It is the plural form of dijete (“child”).

• dijete = child (singular, neuter)
• djeca = children (plural, grammatically neuter plural, but it always refers to people)

So the sentence is about more than one child, so Croatian uses the plural subject Djeca.

Why is the verb “lijepe” and not something like “lijepi”?

Lijepe is 3rd person plural, present tense of the verb lijepiti (“to glue, to stick”).

Croatian verbs must agree with the subject:

• (ono) dijete lijepi – the child sticks (3rd person singular)
• (ona) djeca lijepe – the children stick (3rd person plural)

Because djeca is plural, the verb must also be plural: lijepe.

Does “lijepe” here mean “beautiful” (like the adjective lijep)?

No. In this sentence, lijepe is a verb, not an adjective.

• lijep (adj.) = beautiful
  
  • e.g. lijepa fotografija = a beautiful photo
• lijepiti (verb) = to glue, to stick
  
  • djeca lijepe = the children are gluing/sticking

They are spelled the same in the plural feminine form of the adjective (lijepe fotografije = beautiful photos) and the 3rd person plural verb form (djeca lijepe = children glue), so word order and context tell you which one it is.

In your sentence, lijepe comes right after Djeca and has a direct object (fotografije), so it must be the verb “to glue/stick”, not the adjective “beautiful.”

What form is “fotografije”, and why does it end in -e?

Fotografije is accusative plural of fotografija (“photo, photograph”).

For many feminine nouns ending in -a, nominative plural and accusative plural are identical:

• Nominative singular: fotografija (a photo)
• Nominative plural: fotografije (photos)
• Accusative plural: fotografije (photos – as a direct object)

In this sentence fotografije is the direct object of the verb lijepe:
Djeca (tko?) lijepe što? fotografije.
Children (who?) are sticking what? photos.

Why is it “na zid” and not “na zidu”?

Croatian preposition “na” can take accusative or locative, and the case changes the meaning:

• na + accusative = motion onto something (direction)
• na + locative = location on something (no movement)

Compare:

• Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.
  → They are sticking the photos onto the wall (movement towards the wall; accusative: zid).

• Fotografije su na zidu.
  → The photos are on the wall (location, no movement; locative: zidu).

So “na zid” is correct here because the children are moving the photos to the wall.

What case is “zid” in here?

Zid is in the accusative singular.

• Nominative singular: zid (wall)
• Accusative singular: zid (same form for many masculine nouns)

After na with the meaning of motion (onto the wall), you use the accusative, so the correct form is na zid.

Why are there no words like “the” or “a” in this sentence?

Croatian has no articles (no direct equivalents of English “a/an/the”).

So:

• Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.

can be translated in context as:

• Children are sticking photos on the wall.
• The children are sticking the photos on the wall.

Which article you choose in English depends on context, but Croatian doesn’t mark that difference in the sentence itself.

Can the word order be changed, for example to “Djeca na zid lijepe fotografije”?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible, and you can move elements to change emphasis rather than basic meaning.

Some possibilities:

• Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.
  – Neutral: Children are sticking photos on the wall.

• Djeca na zid lijepe fotografije.
  – Slight focus on where: The children are sticking photos on the wall (not somewhere else).

• Djeca fotografije lijepe na zid.
  – Emphasis on what they’re sticking: It’s photos that they’re sticking on the wall.

However, not every permutation will sound equally natural. The original order is the most neutral and common in everyday speech.

What aspect is the verb “lijepe”, and how would I say the action is completed?

Lijepe comes from lijepiti, which is an imperfective verb (focuses on the ongoing, repeated, or habitual action).

To express a completed action, you typically use the perfective verb zalijepiti:

• Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.
  → The children are (in the process of) sticking photos on the wall / they stick photos on the wall (habitually).

• Djeca su zalijepila fotografije na zid.
  → The children stuck / have stuck the photos on the wall (finished action).

So lijepe describes what’s happening or done repeatedly, while su zalijepila presents it as completed.

Does “fotografije” agree with “lijepe” in any way?

Not in this sentence. Here:

• Djeca = subject (neuter plural)
• lijepe = verb, 3rd person plural, agrees with djeca
• fotografije = direct object (feminine plural)

The agreement is between subject and verb:
Djeca (they) lijepe (they-glue).

Fotografije does not agree with the verb; it is governed by the verb and appears in the accusative plural because it’s the object.

Could the sentence be misunderstood as “beautiful children’s photos on the wall” or something like that?

In normal context, no.

The potentially confusing part is that lijepe could be:

• a verb: (djeca) lijepe = (children) glue
• an adjective (fem. pl.): lijepe fotografije = beautiful photos

But Croatian syntax solves this:

• In your sentence: Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.
  lijepe follows the subject djeca and directly takes fotografije as its object, so it is read as a verb: children glue photos.

• If you wanted “beautiful photos”, you would say:
  Djeca lijepe lijepe fotografije na zid.
  (literally: Children glue beautiful photos on the wall.)
  → verb lijepe

  • adjective lijepe
    • noun fotografije

So the structure of the original sentence strongly favors the verbal interpretation.

Where would a pronoun like “them” (ih) go in this sentence?

Croatian object pronouns are clitics and normally go in second position in the clause.

Original sentence:

• Djeca lijepe fotografije na zid.

If you replace fotografije with ih (“them”):

• Djeca ih lijepe na zid.
  → The children are sticking them on the wall.

Here:

• Djeca = 1st position
• ih (clitic pronoun) = 2nd position
• lijepe na zid = rest of the clause

You wouldn’t normally say Djeca lijepe ih na zid; that sounds unnatural.