Learn Hardcore Croatian: U cijeni tečaja je sve uključeno, uključujući digitalni materijal i dodatne alate koje dobivamo e‑mailom. - In the price of the course everything is included, including the digital material and additional tools that we receive by email.

In u cijeni tečaja, cijeni is locative singular of cijena (“price”), so the phrase literally means “in the price of the course”. It behaves like an adverbial phrase: U cijeni tečaja = “In the course price”.

If you build it directly with the verb uključiti “to include”, then the usual pattern is uključiti (nešto) u cijenu (nečega) with u + accusative:

Sve je uključeno u cijenu tečaja. – “Everything is included in the price of the course.”

In the given sentence, the speaker has chosen the “locative adverbial” structure:
U cijeni tečaja je sve uključeno… = “In the course price, everything is included…”

What cases are cijeni and tečaja, and why are two different cases used there?

cijeni is locative singular of cijena (price). It is required by u in the sense “in”: u + locative.
tečaja is genitive singular of tečaj (course).

The structure is literally “in the price of the course”:

head noun: cijena → u (čijoj?) cijeni – “in the price (of what?)”
dependent noun: tečaj → cijena (čega?) tečaja – “price of the course”

So you get a locative noun phrase (u cijeni) that itself contains a genitive complement (tečaja).

What is the subject in U cijeni tečaja je sve uključeno, and can I change the word order?

The logical subject is sve (“everything”). The core is:

Sve je uključeno. – “Everything is included.”

The phrase u cijeni tečaja is just an adverbial (“in the price of the course”), not the subject.

You can change the word order quite freely for emphasis:

Sve je uključeno u cijeni tečaja. (neutral: focus on sve)
U cijeni tečaja sve je uključeno. (slight emphasis on the price)
U cijeni tečaja je sve uključeno. (very similar, with the clitic je in 2nd position)

All of these are understandable; the differences are in emphasis, not basic grammar.

Why does the verb je appear in the middle, like U cijeni tečaja je sve uključeno, and not directly after sve?

je is a clitic form of the verb biti (“to be”). Croatian clitics almost never stand in first position; they normally go in “second position” in the sentence or clause.

In U cijeni tečaja je sve uključeno:

The first “chunk” is U cijeni tečaja.
The clitic je then comes right after that first chunk.
The rest (sve uključeno) follows.

If you start the sentence with Sve, the clitic will move:

Sve je uključeno u cijeni tečaja.

So je is not tied to the subject’s position; it follows the general clitic rule: “come after the first stressed word or phrase in the clause”.

Why is it sve uključeno and not svi uključeni or sve uključena?

sve here means “everything” (not “everyone”), and it is grammatically neuter singular. The participle uključeno must agree with it:

sve – neuter singular → uključeno – neuter singular

Compare:

Svi su uključeni. – “All (people) are included.”
- svi – masculine plural → uključeni – masculine plural.
Sve su uključene. – “All (things, feminine plural) are included.”
- sve (fem. pl.) → uključene (fem. pl.).

Here we are talking about “everything” in general, so neuter singular sve je uključeno is the right combination.

Is je sve uključeno a passive construction?

Functionally, yes. The pattern biti + passive participle is how Croatian usually forms the passive:

uključiti (to include) → passive participle uključen / uključena / uključeno
Sve je uključeno. – literally “Everything is included.”

So:

je – auxiliary (from biti)
uključeno – passive past participle in neuter singular

There is no explicit agent (by whom?) mentioned, just as in English “Everything is included.”

What exactly is uključujući? Is it a verb form, and how is it used?

uključujući is the present active participle of uključiti / uključivati, but in modern Croatian it is used almost like a preposition or linking particle meaning “including”.

Key points:

It does not change for gender, number or case; it always stays uključujući.
The nouns that follow it are usually in the accusative, as if they were direct objects of uključiti:
- uključujući digitalni materijal i dodatne alate
- uključujući hranu i piće
It is often preceded by a comma, because it adds extra, clarifying information:
- Sve je uključeno, uključujući doručak.

So in this sentence it works exactly like English “including digital material and additional tools …”.

Why is it digitalni materijal but dodatne alate? They look like different patterns.

Both are in the accusative, governed by uključujući, but:

digitalni materijal is masculine singular inanimate:
- nominative sg: digitalni materijal
- accusative sg (inanimate) is identical: digitalni materijal
dodatne alate is masculine plural:
- nominative pl: dodatni alati
- accusative pl: dodatne alate

So the difference comes from number and noun type, not different grammar:

singular inanimate → acc = nom → digitalni materijal
plural masculine → acc plural -e → dodatne alate

What case are materijal and alate in, and how are those forms made?

Both are in the accusative, as objects of uključujući:

materijal: masculine, singular, inanimate
- nominative sg: materijal
- accusative sg (inanimate): materijal (same as nominative)
- adjective: digitalni (masc. sg. nom/acc)
alate: masculine, plural
- base noun: alat (tool)
- nominative pl: alati
- accusative pl: alate
- adjective: dodatne (masc. pl. acc -e)

So the accusative is marked clearly only in the plural (alate, dodatne); in the singular masculine inanimate materijal, it looks the same as nominative.

Why is the relative pronoun koje used here, and what does it agree with?

koje is the relative pronoun “which/that” and here it is:

accusative plural masculine (agreeing with things, not people)
functioning as the direct object of dobivamo (“we receive”)

It refers back to the combined phrase:

digitalni materijal i dodatne alate

Taken together, these are several items, so the pronoun must be plural. Because they are grammatically masculine, we use the masculine plural accusative form koje:

(Mi) dobivamo što? – koje (digitalni materijal i dodatne alate).

Could I use koji instead of koje in …alate koje dobivamo e‑mailom?

No. koji (masc. plural) is the nominative form, and here you need the accusative, because the relative pronoun is the object of dobivamo:

nominative pl: koji – subject (“who/which …” as doer)
accusative pl: koje – object (“whom/which …” as thing received)

In the sentence:

(Mi) dobivamo što? – koje (those things)

So koje dobivamo e‑mailom is correct; koji dobivamo e‑mailom would be a case error.

Does koje dobivamo e‑mailom refer to both digitalni materijal and dodatne alate, or only to dodatne alate?

Purely grammatically, koje can refer to all items in the coordination:

digitalni materijal i dodatne alate, koje dobivamo e‑mailom
→ “digital material and additional tools, which we receive by e‑mail”

Because koje is plural, it naturally matches the whole group (“all those things”), not just the last noun. In real usage most readers will understand that both the digital material and the tools are received by e‑mail, especially because that makes sense in this context.

If you wanted to make it absolutely explicit, you could say e.g.:

…uključujući digitalni materijal i dodatne alate; sve to dobivamo e‑mailom.

What does dobivamo tell me about person and tense, and is dobijamo also possible?

dobivamo is:

1st person plural (“we”)
present tense
from the verb dobivati (imperfective partner of dobiti, “to receive, to get”)

So it means “we (regularly / in general) receive / get”.

About dobijamo:

dobijati / dobijamo is common in Serbian and in some Croatian speech, but in standard Croatian the preferred form is dobivati / dobivamo.
If you are aiming at standard Croatian, use dobivamo in writing and in careful speech.

Why is it e‑mailom with -om, and not just e‑mail or e‑mailu?

e‑mailom is the instrumental singular form of e‑mail. The instrumental case without a preposition is used to express means / instrument:

dobivamo (to) čime? – e‑mailom → “we receive (it) by e‑mail / via e‑mail”

Other examples of instrumental of means:

vlak → vlakom – “by train”
pošta → poštom – “by post”

e‑mailu would be dative/locative (“to the e‑mail / in the e‑mail”), which does not express the idea of “by e‑mail”.

Do I need the comma before uključujući, or could I write …je sve uključeno uključujući digitalni materijal…?

In this kind of sentence, the comma is standard and recommended. The phrase with uključujući introduces additional, specifying information, similar to an English non‑restrictive clause:

Sve je uključeno, uključujući digitalni materijal…
~ “Everything is included, including digital material…”

You will often see uključujući set off by a comma (or commas if it’s in the middle of a sentence). Writing it without a comma is not impossible, but it looks less clear and less in line with usual Croatian punctuation practice.