Learn Hardcore Croatian: Nakon sušenja moram peglati košulje starom peglom u sobi. - After drying I have to iron the shirts with an old iron in the room.

Preposition “nakon”
- nakon = after
- It always takes the genitive case.
- So the noun that follows must be in genitive.
Verbal noun “sušenje” → genitive “sušenja”
- The base form is sušenje (drying), a verbal noun from sušiti (to dry).
- In the genitive singular, -nje nouns usually change to -nja:
  - sušenje (nom.) → sušenja (gen.)
- Therefore, nakon sušenja = after (the) drying.

poslije also takes the genitive, so you’d say:

poslije sušenja – also correct, same meaning.

You cannot say nakon sušenje because sušenje there is nominative, not genitive.

What is the role of “moram” here, and why is “peglati” in the infinitive?

moram is the 1st person singular of morati = to have to / must.
- ja moram = I must / I have to
In Croatian, verbs like morati (must), htjeti (want), trebati (need, should) are followed by the infinitive of the main verb.

So:

moram peglati = I have to iron / I must iron.

The pattern is:

ja moram raditi – I have to work
ja moram učiti – I have to study
ja moram peglati – I have to iron

Why is “peglati” used as a verb and “peglom” as a noun in the same sentence? Are they related?

Yes, they are directly related and share the same root:

peglati – to iron (verb)
pegla – an iron (noun)

Croatian often forms a verb and a tool-noun from the same root:

čistiti – a clean; čistač – a cleaner
brijati – to shave; britva – a razor (different root but similar concept)

In the sentence:

moram peglati – I have to iron (action)
starom peglom – with the old iron (instrument/tool).

Why is it “košulje” and not “košulja” or “košulji”?

Košulje here is:

feminine plural, accusative case of košulja (shirt).

You are ironing some shirts (direct object of the verb), so:

Nom. sg. košulja – a shirt
Acc. sg. košulju – I iron a shirt → peglam košulju
Nom. pl. košulje – shirts
Acc. pl. košulje – I iron shirts → peglam košulje

Since shirts are the direct object of peglati, we use accusative plural: košulje.

Why is it “starom peglom” and not “stara pegla”?

The phrase starom peglom is in the instrumental case, meaning with the old iron.

pegla – nominative singular (an iron)
starom peglom – instrumental singular (with the old iron)

Instrumental singular endings (for most feminine nouns in -a):

pegla → peglom
stara pegla → starom peglom

We use the instrumental to express the tool or instrument used:

pišem olovkom – I write with a pencil
jedem vilicom – I eat with a fork
peglam starom peglom – I iron with the old iron.

If you said stara pegla on its own, it would just be “the old iron” (subject or topic), not “with the old iron”.

Could I say “sa starom peglom” instead of “starom peglom”? Is there a difference?

Yes, sa starom peglom is grammatically correct too.

starom peglom – instrumental without a preposition
sa starom peglom – instrumental with the preposition sa (with)

In many “tool” expressions, Croatian often drops the preposition and just uses the bare instrumental:

pišem olovkom – I write with a pencil
jedem vilicom – I eat with a fork
peglam peglom – I iron with an iron

Adding sa (or s) is possible and can sound a bit more emphatic or explicit, but here both versions are natural:

peglam košulje starom peglom
peglam košulje sa starom peglom

Meaning is basically the same.

Why is it “u sobi” and not “u sobu”?

This is a static location vs movement distinction:

u sobi – in the room (location, no movement) → locative case
u sobu – into the room (movement towards) → accusative case

In the sentence, the ironing is happening in the room, not moving into it, so we use locative:

u sobi = in the room
Locative singular (feminine -a noun): soba → u sobi

Examples:

Idem u sobu. – I’m going into the room. (motion → accusative)
Ja sam u sobi. – I am in the room. (location → locative)

Is the word order fixed, or can I say this sentence in a different order?

The basic word order is fairly flexible in Croatian. Variants like these are possible and natural:

Nakon sušenja moram peglati košulje starom peglom u sobi.
Moram nakon sušenja peglati košulje starom peglom u sobi.
Moram peglati košulje u sobi starom peglom nakon sušenja.

Changes in order can slightly affect emphasis, but the meaning stays essentially the same because cases (sušenja, košulje, starom peglom, u sobi) show who is doing what to whom and where.

The original order sounds natural and neutral, moving from time (nakon sušenja) → necessity + action (moram peglati) → object (košulje) → instrument (starom peglom) → place (u sobi).

Why is there no “ja” in the sentence? How do we know it means I?

In Croatian, the personal subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending already shows the person:

moram = 1st person singular, I must / I have to.
moraš = you must
mora = he/she/it must

So moram alone already means “I must / I have to”.

You only add ja for emphasis or contrast:

Ja moram peglati, a ti možeš gledati TV.
- I have to iron, and you can watch TV.

In the given sentence, ja is understood and not needed.

What exactly is “sušenje” grammatically? Is it a verb form?

Sušenje is not a finite verb form; it’s a verbal noun:

Derived from the verb sušiti – to dry
sušenje – drying (the act or process of drying)

It behaves grammatically like a neuter noun:

Nominative: sušenje
Genitive: sušenja
Dative: sušenju
etc.

So in nakon sušenja:

nakon requires the genitive case
therefore sušenja is genitive singular of the noun sušenje, not a verb.

Is there any aspect question here? Why sušenje / sušiti and not a perfective form like osušenje / osušiti?

Aspect in Croatian is about whether an action is seen as ongoing/regular (imperfective) or completed (perfective).

sušiti – imperfective: to be drying, to dry (general/ongoing)
osušiti – perfective: to dry completely, to finish drying

The noun sušenje is tied to the imperfective verb sušiti and refers to the process of drying.

nakon sušenja = after the process/period of drying

If you wanted to stress the completed result of drying as a specific event, you might use a clause with a perfective verb:

Nakon što se košulje osuše, moram ih peglati.
- After the shirts get (have become) dry, I must iron them.

But with a simple noun phrase, Croatian uses the imperfective-derived noun sušenje, so nakon sušenja is the natural form.