Learn Hardcore Croatian: Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku, iako sam ga već oprala u perilici. - The coffee stain is still on the tablecloth, although I have already washed it in the washing machine.

Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku, iako sam ga već oprala u perilici.

The coffee stain is still on the tablecloth, although I have already washed it in the washing machine.

Breakdown of Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku, iako sam ga već oprala u perilici.

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Questions & Answers about Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku, iako sam ga već oprala u perilici.

What does od kave literally mean, and why is od used here?

Od kave literally means “of coffee” or “from coffee.”

In Croatian, od + genitive is very commonly used to specify:

the source of something
the substance/material
the type/kind of something

So mrlja od kave is literally “a stain of coffee”, i.e. a coffee stain.

Other similar patterns:

mrlja od vina – wine stain
čaša od stakla – a glass (made) of glass
ogrlica od zlata – gold necklace

You can also say kavna mrlja (an adjective-based form), but mrlja od kave is more common and more neutral-sounding in everyday speech.

Why is it još je na stolnjaku and not je još na stolnjaku? Where does je normally go?

Je is a clitic (short unstressed word) and, in Croatian, clitics tend to appear in the second position in a clause (roughly after the first “meaningful unit”).

In this clause:

Mrlja od kave = first unit
još je na stolnjaku = rest of the clause

The clitic je attaches early in the clause, after the first unit. In many contexts you can move još around a bit without changing the meaning too much:

Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku.
Mrlja od kave je još na stolnjaku.

Both are possible and natural. The version with još je slightly emphasizes “still is” as a chunk, but in everyday speech both word orders occur.

What you normally don’t do is put je at the very beginning:

✗ Je mrlja od kave na stolnjaku – ungrammatical in standard Croatian.

What case is na stolnjaku, and why is it not na stolnjak?

Stolnjak (tablecloth) is a masculine noun.

na stolnjaku – locative singular
na stolnjak – accusative singular

Croatian uses na + locative for location (where something is) and na + accusative for direction (onto, to).

Here we have a static location:

Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku.
→ The coffee stain is still *on the tablecloth.
→ No movement; so *locative: stolnjaku.

Compare:

Stavila sam stolnjak na stol.
→ I put the tablecloth onto the table (movement → accusative: stol).
Stolnjak je na stolu.
→ The tablecloth is on the table (location → locative: stolu).

What does iako mean, and is it different from premda or iako sam ga već oprala vs i kad sam ga već oprala?

Iako means “although / even though” and introduces a contrastive subordinate clause.

iako sam ga već oprala u perilici
→ although I’ve already washed it in the washing machine

Premda is very close in meaning and can often replace iako:

… iako sam ga već oprala
… premda sam ga već oprala

Both mean “although I have already washed it”. Premda can sound a bit more formal or literary, but in practice they overlap a lot.

I kad literally means “and when / (even) when” and doesn’t directly express the same concessive meaning:

… i kad sam ga već oprala sounds more like “even when I’ve already washed it” and is less standard for this exact meaning.

For a clear “although / even though”, use iako (or premda, makar, iako i…, etc., depending on nuance).

Why is it sam ga već oprala and not just oprala sam ga? Is one more correct?

Both sam ga već oprala and oprala sam ga are grammatically correct. The difference is mainly in word order and emphasis.

The underlying structure is:

(Ja) sam ga već oprala.
→ I have already washed it.

Here:

sam – auxiliary (1st person singular)
ga – object pronoun (him/it)
već – “already”
oprala – main verb (past participle, feminine)

Croatian clitics (sam, ga, se, mi, ti…) cluster together in the second position in the clause, so the natural “packed” version is:

(Ja) sam ga već oprala.

You can also move the participle first for emphasis:

Oprala sam ga već u perilici.

This can slightly stress the action oprala (washed), but both orders are common. Learners are usually safest if they keep clitics (sam, ga, se…) early in the sentence, near the start of the clause.

Why is the object pronoun ga and not ju or je? What exactly does ga refer to?

Ga is the accusative singular masculine pronoun meaning “him / it.”

It refers to stolnjak (tablecloth), which is:

gender: masculine
singular: yes

So:

stolnjak → ga in the accusative:
oprala sam stolnjak → oprala sam ga

If the noun were feminine, you’d use je:

haljina (dress) → oprala sam je (I washed it/her)

If the noun were neuter, you’d use ga as well (for animate vs inanimate there are more details, but for inanimate singular it’s typically ga).

Ju is a colloquial form of je (feminine accusative) and appears more in speech:

vidio sam je → often vidio sam ju

But here, since stolnjak is masculine, the correct pronoun is ga.

Why is the verb form oprala and not prala? What’s the difference in Croatian?

Croatian has aspect: perfective vs imperfective.

oprati (pf.) → oprala: a completed action (washed, finished)
prati (impf.) → prala: a continuous / repeated action (was washing, used to wash)

In this sentence, the speaker wants to say the washing was finished:

… iako sam ga već oprala u perilici.
→ … although I have already washed it (completely) in the washing machine.

If you said:

… iako sam ga već prala u perilici,
that suggests “although I have already (at some point) been washing it / have washed it before” and is less clearly about a single, completed wash cycle. For a one-time, successful wash you expect oprala.

Why is it u perilici and not something like perilicom? What case is used with u here?

Perilica (washing machine) is feminine.

In u perilici, perilici is locative singular.

With u, Croatian distinguishes:

u + locative → location (in, inside)
u + accusative → movement into, to

So:

oprala sam ga u perilici
→ I washed it *in the washing machine. (locative: *perilici)

If there were movement into something:

Stavila sam ga u perilicu.
→ I put it *into the washing machine. (accusative: *perilicu)

Perilicom would be instrumental (“with the washing machine / by means of the washing machine”), which is not what is meant here.

Why is there no ja in iako sam ga već oprala? How do I know who did the action?

Croatian usually omits subject pronouns (ja, ti, on…) because the information is already present in the verb ending and the auxiliary.

In sam ga već oprala:

sam = 1st person singular auxiliary (“I have”)
oprala also agrees with 1st person singular and feminine

So the listener already knows the subject is “I”, and that the speaker is grammatically female.

You can add ja for emphasis or contrast:

… iako sam ga već oprala. – neutral
… iako sam ga ja već oprala. – although *I already washed it* (contrast: not someone else)

But in neutral sentences, dropping ja is more natural.

Why is it već and još in the same sentence? Don’t both mean something with “still / already”?

Yes, and they pair very naturally here:

još = still (continuation)
→ Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku.
→ The coffee stain is *still on the tablecloth.*
već = already (earlier than expected)
→ … iako sam ga već oprala u perilici.
→ … although I’ve *already washed it in the washing machine.*

The contrast is exactly what makes the sentence work:

The stain still hasn’t disappeared (još je na stolnjaku),
even though you already did the expected action (već oprala).

You could also say:

još uvijek je na stolnjaku – “is still (yet) on the tablecloth”
još and još uvijek are very common with this meaning.

Why is the past participle oprala and not oprao? How does gender agreement work here?

In Croatian, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.

oprao – masculine singular
oprala – feminine singular
oprali – masculine/mixed plural
oprale – feminine plural

In iako sam ga već oprala:

the implied subject is ja (I)
the speaker is female → hence oprala

If a man said the same sentence, it would be:

Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku, iako sam ga već oprao u perilici.

Everything else stays the same; only the participle changes form.

Could I say Mrlja od kave je još na stolnjaku or Još je mrlja od kave na stolnjaku? How flexible is the word order?

All of these are grammatically correct, but they carry slightly different emphasis:

Mrlja od kave još je na stolnjaku.
– Very natural, neutral emphasis.
Mrlja od kave je još na stolnjaku.
– Also natural; još is a bit more tightly connected to na stolnjaku, but the meaning is basically the same.
Još je mrlja od kave na stolnjaku.
– Emphasizes još (“it’s still the case that…”) and sounds a bit more expressive, like you’re stressing the annoyance or surprise.

Croatian allows relatively free word order, but:

keep clitics like je, sam, ga early in the clause (second position),
move adverbs like još, već around them to tweak emphasis, not grammar.