Questions & Answers about Cijelu noć učim hrvatski.
Because cijelu noć is in the accusative case, which is used here to express duration of time (“for the whole night / all night long”).
- cijela noć – nominative (subject):
- Cijela noć je bila tiha. = The whole night was quiet.
- cijelu noć – accusative (time duration):
- Cijelu noć učim hrvatski. = I study Croatian all night (long).
The adjective must agree with noć (feminine singular) in case, so nominative is cijela, accusative is cijelu.
Noć here is in the accusative singular.
Croatian often uses the accusative without a preposition to show how long something lasts:
- Cijeli dan radim. – I work all day.
- Svaki tjedan učim. – I study every week.
- Cijelu noć učim hrvatski. – I study Croatian all night.
So cijelu noć is a time expression in the accusative meaning “the whole night / all night long.”
Because cijelu is the feminine accusative singular form of the adjective cijeli (whole).
- Masculine nominative: cijeli (cijeli dan)
- Feminine nominative: cijela (cijela noć)
- Feminine accusative: cijelu (cijelu noć)
Since noć is feminine and in the accusative, the adjective must match: cijelu noć.
Yes, Učim hrvatski cijelu noć is completely correct and very natural.
The basic meaning is the same. The difference is emphasis and focus:
Cijelu noć učim hrvatski.
Slightly stronger emphasis on when/how long – “All night long, I study Croatian.”Učim hrvatski cijelu noć.
More neutral; more like plain English word order: “I study Croatian all night.”
Croatian word order is fairly flexible. Moving cijelu noć to the front makes the duration more prominent in the sentence.
In Croatian, the subject pronoun (ja = I, ti = you, etc.) is usually dropped, because the verb ending already shows the person.
- učim = I study
- učiš = you study
- uči = he/she/it studies
So:
(Ja) učim hrvatski.
Both are grammatically correct, but ja is usually omitted unless you want to stress I, not someone else:Ja učim hrvatski, a on uči njemački.
I am learning Croatian, and he is learning German.
Učim is present tense of učiti (imperfective verb).
In Croatian, the same present tense form covers both:
- I study Croatian (regularly).
- I am studying Croatian (right now).
Context decides which is meant. In this sentence with cijelu noć, it’s often understood as “I am studying (through) the whole night,” but could also be a general habit.
Standard and most natural in this context is učim hrvatski.
učiti + object:
- Učim hrvatski. – I study/learn Croatian.
- Učim matematiku. – I study math.
učiti se (reflexive) is used more as “to learn / to study” in general, often with an infinitive:
- Učim se kuhati. – I am learning to cook.
- Učim se voziti bicikl. – I am learning to ride a bike.
Many speakers do say učim se hrvatski, but in careful/standard language učim hrvatski is preferred when you have a direct object like a language or a school subject.
Hrvatski is originally an adjective meaning “Croatian,” but in this context it is used as a short form for “Croatian language” (hrvatski jezik).
- Učim hrvatski. – I study (the) Croatian (language).
- Učim hrvatski jezik. – I study the Croatian language. (more explicit)
Both are correct. Dropping jezik is very common for languages:
engleski, njemački, francuski, španjolski, etc., all can mean “the X language.”
Because hrvatski here is masculine singular inanimate in the accusative, and for such nouns/adjectives nominative and accusative are identical.
If you expand it, it’s: učim hrvatski jezik.
- Nominative: hrvatski jezik (Croatian language)
- Accusative: učim hrvatski (jezik) – form hrvatski stays the same
Compare with a masculine animate noun, where it would change:
- Nominative: dobar pas – a good dog
- Accusative: vidim dobrog psa – I see a good dog
So it depends on gender and animacy.
Croatian has no articles (no equivalents of “a/an” or “the”).
Definiteness is usually clear from context or word order, or sometimes expressed in other ways, but you do not put an extra word like “the” or “a”:
- Učim hrvatski. – I study/learn Croatian.
- Cijelu noć učim hrvatski. – I study Croatian all night.
Whether English uses “the” or not doesn’t change the Croatian sentence.
They’re grammatically possible, but sound more marked or poetic / unusual in everyday speech.
Natural, common options:
- Cijelu noć učim hrvatski.
- Učim hrvatski cijelu noć.
If you move hrvatski to the front:
- Hrvatski učim cijelu noć.
this strongly emphasizes what you’re studying (Croatian, not something else), and is more stylistic or contrastive, e.g.:
- Hrvatski učim cijelu noć, a matematiku nikako.
I study Croatian all night, but not math at all.
Use the past tense of učiti:
- Cijelu noć sam učio hrvatski. – if you are male
- Cijelu noć sam učila hrvatski. – if you are female
Structure:
[cijelu noć] + [auxiliary “sam”] + [past participle učio/učila] + [hrvatski]
Yes, common alternatives include:
- svu noć – all night
- Svu noć učim hrvatski.
- cijele noći – all (through) the night (genitive of time)
- Cijele noći učim hrvatski.
Nuances are small and all three are very common. For a learner, cijelu noć and svu noć are the safest and most straightforward equivalents of “all night (long).”
Approximate English-friendly guidance:
Cijelu – roughly TSYEH-loo
- c like ts in cats
- je like ye in yes
noć – roughly noch (with a soft “ch” like tch in match, but a bit softer)
učim – roughly OO-cheem
- u like oo in good (a bit longer)
- č like ch in church
hrvatski – roughly HR-vats-kee
- h is a bit like the ch in German Bach or Spanish j in José
- rv is a tight cluster: say r then v quickly
- ski like skee
In most beginner pronunciation models, stress is on the first syllable of each word: CI-je-lu NOĆ U-čim HR-vat-ski (real accent can vary regionally, but this is close enough to be understood clearly).