Profesorica cijeni kada u objašnjenju zadatka spomenemo i male detalje.

The professor (female) appreciates it when we mention even small details in the explanation of a task.

Breakdown of Profesorica cijeni kada u objašnjenju zadatka spomenemo i male detalje.

• mali: small
• u: in
• zadatak: task
• kada: when
• cijeniti: to appreciate
• objašnjenje: explanation
• detalj: detail
• profesorica: professor (female)
• spomenuti: to mention
• i: even

Questions & Answers about Profesorica cijeni kada u objašnjenju zadatka spomenemo i male detalje.

What is the difference between profesorica and profesor, and why is profesorica used here?

Profesor is the general word for professor / teacher (traditionally grammatically masculine).

Profesorica is the explicitly feminine form, meaning female professor / female teacher.

Croatian very often uses gendered job titles, especially for professions like teacher:

• profesor – male professor / teacher
• profesorica – female professor / teacher
• učitelj – male primary-school teacher
• učiteljica – female primary-school teacher

In the sentence, profesorica tells us that the person is a woman.

What does cijeni mean exactly, and how does it compare to English?

Cijeni is the 3rd person singular present form of cijeniti, which here means to value, to appreciate, to hold in high regard.

So Profesorica cijeni... means something like:

• The (female) teacher appreciates...
• The teacher values it when...

This verb implies respect or positive evaluation, not romantic love. It’s closer to English “appreciate / value” than to “like / love”.

Why is there no comma before kada? Could there be one?

In modern standard Croatian, when kada (or the shorter kad) introduces a clause that functions as the object of the verb, a comma is usually not written.

Here, the whole clause kada u objašnjenju zadatka spomenemo i male detalje is what the professor appreciates. It is the object of cijeni, so no comma is needed:

• Profesorica cijeni kada... ✅ (standard)
• Profesorica cijeni, kada... ❌ (usually considered incorrect or at least old‑fashioned here)

So the sentence as written follows current norms.

Is there any difference between kada and kad in this sentence?

Kad is simply a shorter, more colloquial form of kada.

In this sentence, both are grammatically correct and mean “when” in a temporal sense:

• Profesorica cijeni kada... – slightly more formal / neutral
• Profesorica cijeni kad... – slightly more colloquial / everyday speech

The meaning and grammar do not change if you replace kada with kad here.

What does u objašnjenju zadatka literally mean, and which cases are used?

U objašnjenju zadatka literally means “in the explanation of the assignment/task.”

Grammatically:

• u – preposition “in”
• objašnjenju – locative singular of objašnjenje (explanation)
  
  • nominative: objašnjenje
  • locative: (u) objašnjenju
• zadatka – genitive singular of zadatak (task, assignment)
  
  • nominative: zadatak
  • genitive: zadatka

So the structure is:
u + (locative) noun + its dependent noun in genitive
→ in (the) explanation of (the) task.

Why is the verb spomenemo in the first person plural, and where is the subject “we”?

Spomenemo is the 1st person plural present form of spomenuti (to mention), so by itself it already contains the meaning “we mention”.

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (ja, ti, mi, vi, etc.) are usually omitted because the verb ending shows the person and number.

• mi spomenemo – we mention (pronoun explicitly stated)
• spomenemo – we mention (usual, pronoun dropped)

In the sentence, spomenemo implicitly means “we (students, for example) mention.” The subject is understood from context and the verb ending, so mi is not needed.

What is the aspect of spomenemo, and how is it different from spominjemo?

The verb pair is:

• spominjati – imperfective (to be mentioning, to mention repeatedly / in progress)
• spomenuti – perfective (to mention once, as a completed act)

Spomenemo is present tense of the perfective verb spomenuti.
With kada, a perfective present often expresses a repeated situation where each event is seen as a complete whole:

• Profesorica cijeni kada... spomenemo i male detalje.
  → She appreciates it whenever we (happen to) mention even small details (each time as a complete act).

Using the imperfective spominjemo would sound slightly more like focusing on the ongoing process:

• ...kada u objašnjenju zadatka spominjemo i male detalje.
  → when we are (in general / as we are) mentioning even small details.

Both can be correct, but spomenemo nicely fits the idea of each individual mentioning as a full, countable action.

What does the i before male detalje do? Is it just “and”?

The i here has the meaning of “also / even”, not simply “and” joining two equal items.

• male detalje – small details
• i male detalje – even small details / also the small details

It adds emphasis: not only the main or big parts of the explanation are important, even the small details count. This usage of i = also/even is very common in Croatian.

Why is it male detalje instead of mali detalji?

Because male detalje is the accusative plural form, used as the direct object of spomenemo.

Base forms:

• mali detalj – small detail (masculine singular, nominative)
• plural nominative: mali detalji – small details (subject of a verb)
• plural accusative: male detalje – small details (direct object)

In the sentence:

• We mention what? → male detalje (small details) → direct object → accusative plural.

So the adjective and noun both appear in masculine accusative plural:

• male (mali, masc. acc. pl.)
• detalje (detalj, masc. acc. pl.)

Can the word order be changed, for example putting u objašnjenju zadatka at the end?

Yes, Croatian word order is relatively flexible. You could say:

• Profesorica cijeni kada spomenemo i male detalje u objašnjenju zadatka.

This is grammatically correct.

Differences are mostly in emphasis and flow:

• Original: ...kada u objašnjenju zadatka spomenemo i male detalje.
  → Slightly emphasizes the place/context (in the explanation of the task) first, then what we do there.

• Alternative: ...kada spomenemo i male detalje u objašnjenju zadatka.
  → Stresses a bit more the act of mentioning small details, and then adds where we mention them.

Both are natural-sounding sentences.

Could you replace profesorica with učiteljica here? Would that change the meaning?

You could say:

• Učiteljica cijeni kada u objašnjenju zadatka spomenemo i male detalje.

Grammatically this is fine. The nuance is in education level / role:

• profesorica – often used for high-school or university teachers (or any teacher, in everyday speech, depending on region)
• učiteljica – more specifically a primary-school teacher

So the core meaning (that she appreciates detailed explanations) stays the same; only the type/level of teacher implied changes.

What grammatical roles do the main parts of the sentence play?

Breaking it down:

• Profesorica – subject (nominative singular)
• cijeni – main verb (3rd person singular, present)
• kada ... spomenemo i male detalje – subordinate clause functioning as the object of cijeni
  
  • spomenemo – verb of the subordinate clause (1st person plural, present, perfective)
  • u objašnjenju zadatka – prepositional phrase (locative + genitive), adverbial of place/context inside the subordinate clause
  • i male detalje – direct object (accusative plural) of spomenemo

So structurally it is:

• [Subject] [verb] [object clause]
• Profesorica cijeni (kada ... spomenemo i male detalje.)