Breakdown of U našoj udruzi imamo radionicu hrvatskog jezika za nove članove i članice.
Questions & Answers about U našoj udruzi imamo radionicu hrvatskog jezika za nove članove i članice.
Udruga is usually translated as association or non-profit organization.
It typically refers to:
- a registered civic association
- often non-profit, with members, a statute, and some social or cultural purpose
Depending on context, you might translate u našoj udruzi as:
- in our association
- in our organization
- sometimes even in our club (if it behaves like a club)
So it is a bit more formal than just a casual club, but less formal than institution.
Because the preposition u (in) here requires the locative case (place where something is), not the nominative.
- Base forms: naša udruga (our association) – nominative, used for the subject of a sentence.
- In the sentence, it’s in our association, which is a location → locative case.
So both words change:
- naša → našoj (feminine, singular, locative)
- udruga → udruzi (feminine, singular, locative)
General pattern:
feminine -a nouns (like udruga) usually have -i in the locative singular:
udruga → udruzi, škola → školi, kuća → kući.
The adjective and the noun must agree in gender, number, and case:
u našoj udruzi = preposition u + adjective našoj + noun udruzi, all in feminine singular locative.
Both u and na can translate as in / on / at, but they’re used with different kinds of nouns and locations.
u = in, inside something, or in an organization/location thought of as an enclosed space
- u kući – in the house
- u Zagrebu – in Zagreb
- u školi – at/in school
- u udruzi – in the association (as a member, within its structure)
na = on, upon, or at (events, open areas, surfaces, some institutions)
- na stolu – on the table
- na koncertu – at the concert
- na fakultetu – at the university/faculty
- na sastanku – at a meeting
An udruga is thought of as an organization you are inside in a social sense, so you say u našoj udruzi.
All of these are possible in Croatian, but they have slightly different nuances.
Imamo radionicu hrvatskog jezika…
Literally: We have a Croatian language workshop…
→ Focus on we, the organization, as the provider/owner of the workshop.Postoji radionica hrvatskog jezika…
Literally: There exists a Croatian language workshop…
→ More neutral, just stating that such a workshop exists, without saying who runs it.Ima radionica hrvatskog jezika…
Colloquial: There is a Croatian language workshop…
→ Impersonal, more spoken, less formal.
In the context of u našoj udruzi, imamo is natural because the association is actively offering the workshop.
Because radionica (workshop) is the direct object of the verb imamo (we have), so it must be in the accusative case.
- Nominative (dictionary form): radionica – workshop
- used for the subject: Radionica je zanimljiva. – The workshop is interesting.
- Accusative (direct object): radionicu
- used here: Imamo radionicu. – We have a workshop.
Pattern (feminine noun ending in -a):
- Nominative singular: radionica
- Accusative singular: radionicu
All three can be related to learning, but they are not the same:
radionica – workshop
- usually interactive, practical, often shorter or in a series
- focus on activities, exercises, participation
tečaj – course
- a structured course of lessons over a period (weeks/months)
- e.g. tečaj hrvatskog jezika – Croatian language course
sat – lesson, class (also means hour)
- a single teaching unit
- e.g. sat hrvatskog jezika – a Croatian lesson
In this sentence, radionicu hrvatskog jezika suggests a practical, perhaps more informal or workshop-style language activity, not necessarily a full formal course.
Because hrvatskog jezika is in the genitive case, used here to show what kind of workshop it is: a workshop of Croatian language.
Structure:
- radionica hrvatskog jezika
literally: workshop of Croatian language
Cases:
- Nominative: hrvatski jezik – Croatian language (as the subject)
- Genitive: hrvatskog jezika – of the Croatian language
In Croatian, when one noun specifies another (like class of X, course of X, workshop of X), the second noun usually goes into the genitive:
- radionica hrvatskog jezika – workshop of Croatian
- tečaj engleskog jezika – English course
- nastava matematike – teaching of mathematics
So radionicu hrvatskog jezika = a workshop of Croatian (language).
Yes, in everyday conversation people often shorten it:
- radionica hrvatskog jezika → radionica hrvatskog
It is understood from context that hrvatskog refers to the language. However:
- In formal writing or when clarity is important, it’s better to keep jezika.
- In casual speech or when the context is obvious, radionica hrvatskog is fine and sounds natural.
Hrvatskog is the genitive singular masculine form of the adjective hrvatski (Croatian).
Adjectives in Croatian change their endings to agree with the noun in gender, number, and case:
- Nominative masculine singular: hrvatski jezik – Croatian language
- Genitive masculine singular: hrvatskog jezika – of the Croatian language
The -og ending is a common masculine singular genitive ending for adjectives:
- novi auto → bez novog auta – without the new car
- dobar prijatelj → bez dobrog prijatelja – without a good friend
- hrvatski jezik → radionica hrvatskog jezika – workshop of the Croatian language
The preposition za (for) always takes the accusative case.
You can see this in the sentence:
- za
- nove članove i članice
Breakdown:
- novi član (new member – masculine)
- Accusative plural: nove članove
- nova članica (new member – feminine)
- Accusative plural: nove članice
So:
- za nove članove – for new (male or mixed) members
- za nove članice – for new female members
Combined: za nove članove i članice – for new members, both male and female.
Because one adjective nove is shared by both nouns in a coordinated pair: nove članove i članice.
In this phrase:
- članove – masculine animate, plural, accusative
- članice – feminine, plural, accusative
- za requires accusative
- nove is in the form that works for both:
- for masculine animate plural accusative: nove
- for feminine plural accusative: nove
So the adjective nove already has a shape that fits both, so you don’t need to repeat it:
- za nove članove i članice
instead of - za nove članove i nove članice
Both are grammatically correct; repeating nove is just more explicit.
Traditionally, the masculine plural članovi (and its other forms like članove) is used generically to mean members of any gender.
However, in many contexts today, especially in written or formal language, people use both masculine and feminine forms to be more explicitly inclusive:
- članovi i članice – male and female members
- novi članovi i članice – new members (men and women)
In this sentence:
- za nove članove i članice
emphasizes that the workshop is for all new members, male and female, and reflects more gender-inclusive language.
Yes, you can say:
- Imamo radionicu hrvatskog jezika u našoj udruzi za nove članove i članice.
The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus changes slightly.
U našoj udruzi imamo radionicu…
Starts with the location – in our association – and then tells what you have there. Good when you’re talking about your association and what it offers.Imamo radionicu hrvatskog jezika u našoj udruzi…
Starts with we have a Croatian language workshop, and then specifies where. Good when the workshop itself is the main point.
Croatian word order is fairly flexible; as long as the endings (cases) are correct, people will understand you. The original order just sounds natural and slightly emphasizes in our association.