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Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.

Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.
My younger brother is still studying at school.

Breakdown of Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.

moj
my
škola
school
u
at
brat
brother
učiti
to study
još
still
mlađi
younger
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Questions & Answers about Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.

Why is it moj and not moja or moje?

Moj is the masculine singular form of the possessive adjective moj (my).

In Croatian, possessive adjectives must agree with the noun in:

  • gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
  • number (singular / plural)
  • case (nominative, accusative, etc.)

Brat (brother) is:

  • masculine
  • singular
  • in the nominative case (because it is the subject)

So you must use:

  • moj brat (my brother)
  • moja sestra (my sister – feminine)
  • moje dijete (my child – neuter)

In the sentence, Moj mlađi brat:
moj (masc. sg. nom.) agrees with brat (masc. sg. nom.).

What does mlađi mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Mlađi means younger. It is the comparative form of mlad (young).

Roughly:

  • mlad brat – a young brother
  • mlađi brat – a younger brother

The adjective changes form according to gender and case:

  • mlađi brat (younger brother – masc. nom. sg.)
  • mlađa sestra (younger sister – fem. nom. sg.)
  • mlađe dijete (younger child – neut. nom. sg.)

A useful pair:

  • mlađi brat – younger brother
  • stariji brat – older brother
    (star → stariji, old → older)
Why do the words go Moj mlađi brat and not something like brat moj mlađi?

In standard Croatian, descriptive adjectives and possessives usually come before the noun:

  • moj mlađi brat (my younger brother)
  • moja dobra prijateljica (my good friend – fem.)
  • njegov novi auto (his new car)

You can sometimes put adjectives after the noun for stylistic or poetic effect, but in everyday neutral speech the normal pattern is:

possessive + adjective(s) + noun
Moj mlađi brat

So brat moj mlađi would sound marked, literary, or poetic, not like ordinary conversation.

What does još mean here, and is it the same još used for “more”?

Yes, it is the same word još, but with different meanings depending on context.

  1. In this sentence, još means still:

    • Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.
      → My younger brother still studies / is still studying at school.

  2. Još can also mean more / another / additional:

    • Želiš li još kave? – Do you want more coffee?
    • Treba mi još vremena. – I need more time.

So the meaning of još depends on context. With a verb like uči and time-like meaning, it is usually understood as still.

Can I say još uvijek instead of just još? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

  • Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.
  • Moj mlađi brat još uvijek uči u školi.

Both are correct and very natural.

Još uvijek is often a bit stronger or more explicit, emphasizing the “still” idea:

  • još – still
  • još uvijek – still (often with a nuance of “even now”, “up to this point”)

In many everyday contexts, they are interchangeable.

Where can još go in the sentence? Is Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi the only correct order?

The most natural word order is exactly what you have:

  • Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.

Some other possibilities and how they sound:

  • Moj mlađi brat u školi još uči.
    – Grammatically OK, but sounds unusual here; it might sound like you are contrasting “in school” with some other place.

  • Još moj mlađi brat uči u školi.
    – Possible, but this would typically put extra emphasis on još (for example in contrast to some older sibling who no longer studies).

In neutral speech, place još right before the verb:

[subject] + još + [verb] + [rest]
Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.

What verb form is uči, and what is the infinitive?

The infinitive is učiti (to learn, to study).

Present tense of učiti:

  • ja učim – I learn / study
  • ti učiš – you learn / study
  • on/ona/ono uči – he/she/it learns / is learning
  • mi učimo – we learn / study
  • vi učite – you (pl.) learn / study
  • oni/one/ona uče – they learn / study

In the sentence:

  • Moj mlađi brat ... uči ...
    → uči is 3rd person singular present, agreeing with brat (he).
In English we say “is still studying”. Why is there no verb to be (like je) in još uči?

Croatian does not use an extra auxiliary verb to form a present continuous tense.

Where English distinguishes:

  • he studies (simple)
  • he is studying (continuous)

Croatian uses just one present form:

  • on uči – he studies / he is studying

So:

  • Moj mlađi brat još uči u školi.
    can mean both:
    • My younger brother still studies at school.
    • My younger brother is still studying at school.

You do not say još je uči for “is still studying”; that would be incorrect.

Could I say Moj mlađi brat još ide u školu? How is that different from još uči u školi?

Yes, you can say:

  • Moj mlađi brat još ide u školu.
    – My younger brother still goes to school.

Difference in nuance:

  • još uči u školi – focuses on studying / learning at school, on being a pupil.
  • još ide u školu – focuses on attending / going to school (the fact he is still enrolled and going there).

In many contexts they will overlap, but:

  • to stress he is still a school pupil: both are fine;
  • to stress just physical going somewhere each day, ide u školu is more literal.
What case is školi, and why is it not škola or školu?

Školi is in the locative singular case.

Basic forms of škola (school), feminine:

  • nominative: škola – school (subject form)
  • accusative: školu – school (direct object / motion towards)
  • dative/locative: školi – (to/in/at) the school

After the preposition u:

  • u
    • locative → position (in, inside, at)
      u školi – in (the) school / at school
  • u
    • accusative → direction (into)
      u školu – into (the) school

So:

  • u školi – he is in school (location)
  • u školu – he is going into school (movement)

In your sentence it is about where he studies (location), so u školi (locative) is used.

Could I drop u školi and just say Moj mlađi brat još uči?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

  • Moj mlađi brat još uči. – My younger brother is still studying / still learning.

But the meaning becomes more general:

  • još uči by itself means he is still engaged in some kind of studies or learning, not necessarily specifying where.
  • još uči u školi tells you specifically that he is still studying at school, i.e. he is still a school pupil (not at university, not finished education, etc.).

So u školi just adds more precise information.

Do I have to say moj, or can I just say Mlađi brat još uči u školi?

You can omit moj in the right context:

  • Mlađi brat još uči u školi.

This would normally be understood as “the younger brother (of the people we are talking about) still studies at school”. If it is clear from context that you are talking about your own brothers, this is fine in conversation.

However, if you want to clearly say “my younger brother” and avoid any ambiguity, use moj.

How do you pronounce mlađi and uči, and what are the special letters đ and č?

Pronunciation:

  • mlađi

    • ml as in English ml in “mle” (cluster m + l)
    • a like a in “father”
    • đ is a voiced sound, similar to the j in “juice” or the dge in “bridge”
    • i like ee in “see”

    Roughly: MLA-dji (one stress, usually on mla-)

  • uči

    • u like oo in “too”
    • č is like ch in “church” (but a bit harder)
    • i like ee in “see”

    Roughly: OO-chi (stress usually on u)

Letter notes:

  • đ – a single letter, pronounced like “dy” or “j” in judge
  • č – a hard “ch” sound, as in church, stronger than English “ch”

These letters are important; c, č, ć and d, đ represent different sounds and can distinguish different words.