Učenik često uči hrvatski u parku.

The pupil often studies Croatian in the park.

Breakdown of Učenik često uči hrvatski u parku.

• u: in
• hrvatski: Croatian
• često: often
• park: park
• učiti: to study
• učenik: student

Questions & Answers about Učenik često uči hrvatski u parku.

Why isn’t there a word for “the” or “a” before učenik?

Croatian doesn’t use articles at all—there is no direct equivalent of “a/an” or “the”.

• Učenik can mean “a student”, “the student”, or just “student”, depending on context.
• Definiteness (whether we mean a specific student or any student) is understood from the situation, context, and word order, not from an article.

What grammatical form is učenik in, and why?

Učenik is in the nominative singular form.

• The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence (the doer of the action).
• Here, the student is the one doing the learning, so učenik must be nominative.

Example contrast:

• Vidim učenika. – I see the student. (Here učenika is accusative, the object.)

Why is it hrvatski and not something like hrvatskog or hrvatski jezik?

In this sentence, hrvatski is the direct object of uči (“learns / studies”).

1. Case/form

   • The underlying phrase is hrvatski jezik – Croatian (language).
   • Hrvatski here is masculine singular accusative (because it’s the object), and for masculine inanimate nouns/adjectives, the accusative form looks the same as the nominative:
     
     • Nominative: hrvatski jezik
     • Accusative: (uči) hrvatski (jezik)

2. Omission of jezik

   • Croatian very often drops jezik and just says hrvatski when it is clear that we mean the language:
     
     • Učim hrvatski. – I’m learning Croatian (the language).

3. Why not hrvatskog?

   • Hrvatskog is genitive, not accusative. You’d use it in patterns like:
     
     • Ne znam hrvatskog (jezika). – I don’t know Croatian.
   • With učiti
     • direct object, you use accusative: učiti hrvatski (jezik).

Is hrvatski here an adjective or a noun?

Formally it’s an adjective (“Croatian”), but in this sentence it stands for a noun phrase (“Croatian language”).

• Full version: Učenik često uči hrvatski jezik u parku.
• Usual shortened version: Učenik često uči hrvatski u parku.

So grammatically it behaves as an adjective, but functionally we treat it as “Croatian (the language)”.

Why is hrvatski not capitalized, even though “Croatian” is capitalized in English?

In Croatian, names of languages and adjectives of nationality are not capitalized, unless they start a sentence.

• hrvatski, engleski, njemački → all lowercase
• Hrvatska, Engleska, Njemačka (country names) → capitalized

So hrvatski in uči hrvatski is correctly written with a lowercase h.

What does često mean exactly, and where can it go in the sentence?

Često means “often”. It’s an adverb of frequency.

The most neutral word order is exactly what you have:

• Učenik često uči hrvatski u parku.

Other possibilities, with slight changes in emphasis:

• Često učenik uči hrvatski u parku.
  – Puts more emphasis on how often (Often, the student studies Croatian in the park.)

• Učenik u parku često uči hrvatski.
  – Highlights the park as the place where this often happens.

Putting često at the very end (…u parku često) is possible but can sound a bit marked or stylistic, depending on context. The most natural placements are right after the subject or at the very beginning of the sentence.

What does the verb uči correspond to in English exactly? Is it “learns” or “is learning” or “studies”?

Uči is the 3rd person singular present tense of učiti (imperfective verb).

It usually corresponds to:

• “learns” / “studies” in general statements or habits
• “is learning / is studying” in ongoing situations

Croatian doesn’t have a separate “-ing” form like English. The same present tense covers both:

• Učenik često uči hrvatski u parku.
  – The student often studies/learns Croatian in the park. (habit)

To talk about the past, you add an auxiliary:

• Učenik je često učio hrvatski u parku.
  – The student often studied / used to study Croatian in the park.

Why is it u parku and not just park or u park?

Because of the preposition u (“in, into”) and the type of meaning:

1. Static location → locative case

   • When someone is in a place (no movement into it), u is followed by locative:
     
     • u parku – in the park (locative singular of park)

2. Direction / movement into → accusative case

   • When someone goes into a place, u takes accusative:
     
     • Idem u park. – I’m going to the park. (accusative singular park)

In your sentence, the studying is happening in the park, not a movement to the park, so u parku (locative) is correct.

What form is parku exactly?

Parku is the locative singular of the noun park (masculine).

A simplified case overview for park:

• Nominative (subject): park – Park je velik. (The park is big.)
• Accusative (direct object / direction): park – Vidim park. / Idem u park.
• Locative (location with u/na): parku – Učim u parku. (I study in the park.)

So in u parku, the preposition u forces the locative case, giving the form parku.

Why is it u parku and not na parku? Don’t both mean something like “in/on the park”?

Both u and na can roughly correspond to “in/on/at”, but they’re used with different kinds of places and with different mental images:

• u = inside / within an enclosed or clearly bounded space

  • u parku – in the park
  • u kući – in the house
  • u školi – at school

• na = on / at a surface, open area, or certain fixed expressions

  • na trgu – on the square
  • na stolu – on the table
  • na plaži – at/on the beach
  • many idiomatic uses: na poslu (at work), na koncertu (at a concert)

A park is conceptualised as a place you are in, so it’s u parku, not na parku.

How would the sentence change if the student were female?

The noun učenik is masculine. For a female student, you use učenica. Everything else in your sentence can stay the same:

• Učenica često uči hrvatski u parku.
  – The (female) student often studies Croatian in the park.

The verb uči, adverb često, object hrvatski, and phrase u parku do not change with the gender of the subject.

How would this sentence look in the plural: “The students often study Croatian in the park”?

You need to change both the subject and the verb to the plural:

• Učenici često uče hrvatski u parku.
  
  • učenici – nominative plural of učenik
  • uče – 3rd person plural present of učiti

Everything else (često, hrvatski, u parku) stays the same.

How do you pronounce the special letters like č in učenik, često, and uči?

Croatian spelling is very phonetic: each letter consistently represents one sound.

For the letters in this sentence:

• č – like “ch” in English “chocolate” or “church” (a hard ch).
  
  • učenik – roughly OO-cheh-nik
  • često – CHES-to
  • uči – OO-chee

Vowels are always short and clear here: u, e, i, a, o are pronounced roughly oo, eh, ee, ah, aw.

So the whole sentence roughly sounds like:
OO-cheh-nik CHES-to OO-chee HR-vaht-skee oo PAR-koo.

Could this sentence also mean “The Croatian student often studies in the park” instead of “The student often studies Croatian in the park”?

Not in the form you gave.

• Učenik često uči hrvatski u parku.
  – hrvatski clearly functions as the object (“Croatian [language]”).

To say “The Croatian student often studies in the park”, you would make hrvatski modify učenik:

• Hrvatski učenik često uči u parku.
  – Here hrvatski is an adjective attached to učenik: the Croatian student.
  – No object is given; we only know that he/she studies something.

So the position of hrvatski (before učenik or after uči) completely changes the meaning.