Learn Hardcore Croatian: Uspjeli smo oprati sve mrlje sa stolnjaka prije nego što je stigla obavijest da će majstor doći. - We managed to wash all the stains from the tablecloth before the notification arrived that the repairman would come.

Oprali smo sve mrlje. – We washed all the stains. (neutral statement of fact)
Uspjeli smo oprati sve mrlje. – We managed to wash all the stains. (it was difficult / uncertain, but in the end we succeeded)

The verb uspjeti (to succeed, to manage) adds the nuance that:

there was some difficulty or doubt,
the outcome (clean tablecloth) is a success, not just an action that happened.

So uspjeti + infinitive (here: uspjeti oprati) is like English “manage to do something”.

Why is it Uspjeli smo and not Smo uspjeli?

In Croatian, the short forms of the auxiliary verbs (sam, si, je, smo, ste, su) are clitics and generally must stand in second position in the clause (the so‑called “second‑position clitic” rule).

The first word in the clause is Uspjeli.
So the clitic smo has to come right after it: Uspjeli smo oprati…

Smo uspjeli at the beginning of a main clause would be wrong in standard Croatian. You can move other words around, but the clitics still try to stay in second position:

Jučer smo uspjeli oprati sve mrlje.
Mi smo uspjeli oprati sve mrlje.

In each case, smo comes after the first stressed element (jučer, mi).

What’s the difference between prati and oprati?

These are aspectual pairs:

prati – imperfective; to wash (focus on the process, repeated or ongoing action)
oprati – perfective; to wash (and finish washing), to get something washed completely

In this sentence we use oprati because:

the action is completed and
there is a result: all stains are gone.

So:

Perem stolnjak. – I’m washing the tablecloth. (right now, not finished)
Oprao sam stolnjak. – I have washed / I washed the tablecloth. (finished; result)

Why is mrlje in that form, and which case is it?

Mrlje is:

nominative plural of mrlja (a stain)
also accusative plural of mrlja

Here it is in the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of oprati:

oprati što? → sve mrlje

So the pattern is:

singular: mrlja (N), mrlju (A)
plural: mrlje (N), mrlje (A) – nominative and accusative look the same for feminine nouns like this.

Why is it sa stolnjaka, and what case is stolnjaka?

The preposition sa (or short s) can be followed by different cases with different meanings. With the genitive, it often means “from (off)”, expressing removal:

sa stola – from (off) the table
sa zida – from (off) the wall
sa stolnjaka – from (off) the tablecloth

Here stolnjaka is the genitive singular of stolnjak (tablecloth), and sa stolnjaka means:

from the tablecloth (i.e. off its surface)

If you used the instrumental (sa stolnjakom), it would mean “with the tablecloth” (accompaniment), not “from the tablecloth”.

Could we say s stolnjaka instead of sa stolnjaka?

Yes, grammatically you can say s stolnjaka, and you will see and hear both s and sa in Croatian.

Native speakers usually:

use s before words where it’s easy to pronounce: s krova, s mosta
use sa where s + consonant cluster would be hard to say: sa stola, sa stolnjaka, sa škole

So sa stolnjaka sounds more natural and is standard in everyday speech.

Why is it sve mrlje sa stolnjaka, and not sve mrlje stolnjaka?

Croatian typically needs a preposition to express relations like from, on, in, to.

stolnjak alone is just the tablecloth.
To say from the tablecloth, we need sa stolnjaka.

So:

sve mrlje sa stolnjaka – all the stains from the tablecloth (correct)
sve mrlje stolnjaka – sounds like all the stains of the tablecloth (unusual/odd; not how this is expressed)

The preposition is required to convey the “from” meaning.

What does prije nego što mean exactly, and can we drop što?

Prije nego što introduces a time clause meaning “before”:

prije nego što je stigla obavijest – before the notice arrived

The structure is:

prije nego što
- finite clause (with a conjugated verb)

In standard Croatian, when nego is followed by a finite clause, što is normally used:

prije nego što je stigla obavijest… ✔

Saying prije nego je stigla obavijest is felt as non‑standard or incomplete in careful language. You might hear it colloquially, but prije nego što is what you should learn and use.

Could the word order be prije nego što je obavijest stigla instead of je stigla obavijest?

Yes, both are possible and grammatical:

prije nego što je stigla obavijest – neutral, default order
prije nego što je obavijest stigla – slightly more emphasis on obavijest as the subject

Croatian allows fairly flexible word order. In this kind of neutral narrative sentence, je stigla obavijest is the most common, but je obavijest stigla is also correct and could be used for stylistic or emphasis reasons.

Why is stigla in the past tense, but će doći is in the future?

There are two different time frames:

je stigla obavijest – past tense, perfective:
- the notice arrived at some point in the past.
da će majstor doći – future tense (Future I):
- the notice says that the handyman will come at some point after that moment.

So you have:

a past action: arrival of the notice
describing a future event relative to that past moment: the handyman’s visit

This mirrors English:
“…before the notice arrived that the handyman would come.” (or “will come” depending on style).

What does da će majstor doći literally mean, and why do we use da here?

Da će majstor doći is a content clause:

da – “that”
će doći – “will come”
majstor – “the handyman / repairman / master”

Literally: “that the handyman will come.”

Croatian very often uses da + finite verb to report what someone said, wrote, or what a notice/idea contains:

Rekao je da će majstor doći. – He said that the handyman will come.
Stigla je obavijest da će majstor doći. – A notice arrived that the handyman will come.

So da here works just like “that” in English reporting clauses.

Could we say da majstor dolazi instead of da će majstor doći?

Yes, but there is a nuance:

da će majstor doći – uses future tense and perfective doći
→ focuses on the single future event (the coming, arrival as a complete event).
da majstor dolazi – uses present tense of imperfective dolaziti
→ can suggest a scheduled / ongoing / repeated action, like “the handyman is (in general) coming / tends to come”.

In many real contexts, both could be understood as “the handyman is going to come”, but:

For a one‑time planned visit, da će majstor doći is more typical.

What exactly does majstor mean here?

Majstor literally means “master”, but in everyday usage it often means:

handyman
repairman / tradesman (plumber, electrician, etc.)
any skilled manual worker or craftsman

In this sentence, majstor is understood as the repair person or technician who is going to come, probably to fix something in the house.