Learn Hardcore Croatian: Nakon što je perilica bila stala usred pranja, bili smo pomislili da ćemo morati prati rublje ručno cijeli tjedan. - After the washing machine had stopped in the middle of washing, we had thought that we would have to wash the laundry by hand all week.

The pluperfect is used when you want to show that one past event happened before another past reference point. Here: the machine had already stopped when the later situation (your thinking, your conclusions) is being talked about.

Could we just say Nakon što je perilica stala… instead of je perilica bila stala? What is the difference?

Yes, you absolutely can say:

Nakon što je perilica stala usred pranja, pomislili smo…

This is completely correct and very natural in modern Croatian.

Difference in nuance:

je perilica stala – normal past (perfekt)
je perilica bila stala – pluperfect, a bit more formal / bookish, emphasizes that the stopping was already finished before some other past point

In everyday speech, speakers often avoid the pluperfect and rely on context:

Nakon što je perilica stala usred pranja, pomislili smo da ćemo…

The time relation (first the machine stops, then you think) is clear from nakon što and context, so the pluperfect is not really necessary outside of careful or literary style.

Why is the word order je perilica bila stala and not perilica je bila stala?

Both orders are possible; they just follow the clitic rule.

Croatian has so‑called clitics (short, unstressed words) like je, sam, smo, će, bih that normally go in second position in the clause.

Here the clause begins with:

Nakon što je perilica bila stala…

The word što (in nakon što) is the first stressed element of the subordinate clause. According to the rule, the clitic je has to come right after that first stressed word:

nakon što je perilica bila stala…

If you moved things around, you could also say:

Nakon što je perilica stala usred pranja…
Perilica je bila stala usred pranja. (if this were a separate sentence)

So:

In the subordinate clause, je appears after što.
In an independent sentence, neutral order would more often look like Perilica je bila stala….

The key idea: je is a clitic and tends to appear in second position in its clause.

What does usred pranja literally mean, and why is pranja in that form?

Usred pranja literally means in the middle of the washing.

usred = in the middle of, in the midst of
pranje = washing (a verbal noun from prati)
pranja = genitive singular of pranje

The preposition usred governs the genitive case, so the noun that follows must be in genitive:

usred pranja – in the middle of washing
usred noći – in the middle of the night
usred šume – in the middle of the forest

So the form pranja is simply genitive singular required by usred.

What tense is bili smo pomislili, and how common is it?

Bili smo pomislili is also a pluperfect form.

Breakdown:

bili – past participle of biti (we were / had been), masculine plural
smo – auxiliary biti, 1st person plural, present (clitic)
pomislili – past participle of pomisliti, masculine plural

Together:

bili smo pomislili ≈ we had thought / we had come to think

Functionally, this is the same tense as je bila stala: it refers to an action (thinking) that is completed before another point in the past.

Usage note:
This kind of pluperfect (bili smo pomislili) is correct, but in ordinary modern speech it sounds rather formal or literary. Most people would just say:

pomislili smo

and use adverbs or context to show the time relation. The sentence is clearly talking about a one‑time reaction to the machine stopping, so perfect tense is usually enough.

What is the difference between bili smo pomislili and pomislili smo?

Both basically mean we thought / we had thought, but:

pomislili smo – normal past (perfekt), the default in speech
bili smo pomislili – pluperfect, more marked and formal; can highlight that this thought is:
- earlier than another past event, or
- something temporary or later revised (e.g. we had initially thought, but then…)

In your sentence:

bili smo pomislili da ćemo morati prati rublje ručno cijeli tjedan
strongly suggests: that was our first impression, but later it turned out we didn’t actually have to.

In everyday conversation, most speakers would say:

pomislili smo da ćemo morati…

and leave the revised‑expectation nuance to context or extra words like najprije (at first), isprva (initially).

What is the difference between misliti and pomisliti here?

Both relate to thinking, but they differ in aspect and nuance:

misliti – imperfective
- to think, to have an opinion, to be in a state of thinking
- duration, repeated or ongoing process
- mislili smo = we were thinking / we thought (over some time)
pomisliti – perfective
- to think of something at a particular moment, to have a thought occur to you
- a single, completed mental event
- pomislili smo = a specific idea came to our mind (once)

In your context, pomisliti is more natural because it describes a sudden reaction:

The machine stopped → We suddenly thought: we’ll have to wash by hand.

If you used misliti, it would sound more like a longer-lasting belief or opinion, not a one‑off reaction.

How does da ćemo morati prati work grammatically? Why is ćemo before morati?

The phrase da ćemo morati prati literally breaks down as:

da – that (introduces a subordinate clause)
ćemo – future auxiliary of biti, 1st person plural (we will)
morati – infinitive of morati (to have to, must)
prati – infinitive (to wash)

So the structure is:

da + [ćemo + infinitive] + infinitive

Very literally: that we will have to wash.

Why ćemo before morati? Because ćemo is a clitic and usually sits in second position in its clause:

da ćemo morati prati – clitic ćemo comes right after da (the first stressed element in the clause)

Compare:

Mi ćemo morati prati rublje. – as a main clause (We will have to wash the laundry.)
Mislimo da ćemo morati prati rublje. – We think that we will have to wash the laundry.

So this is just normal Croatian future:

ćemo morati = we will have to
followed by another infinitive prati.

Why is it prati rublje and not oprati rublje here?

This is about aspect: prati is imperfective, oprati is perfective.

prati – to wash (ongoing, repeated, general activity)
oprati – to wash something completely (one finished action)

In your sentence:

…morati prati rublje ručno cijeli tjedan.

The phrase cijeli tjedan (the whole week) suggests repeated or prolonged activity over a period of time, not one single completed washing event. That matches the imperfective prati:

morati prati rublje cijeli tjedan = have to be washing laundry all week (do laundry all week)

If you used oprati:

morati oprati rublje ručno usually sounds like one single job: wash this pile of laundry once, until it is finished.

So prati fits better with the idea of an unpleasant chore stretching through the whole week.

What exactly is rublje in Croatian? Is it plural or singular?

Rublje is a neuter singular noun, but it refers to laundry / clothes as a mass or collective noun:

rublje – laundry, underwear, linens, washables
grammatical gender: neuter, singular
typical form in nominative and accusative: rublje

Examples:

Prljavo rublje – dirty laundry
Oprati rublje – to wash the laundry
Nemoj ostavljati rublje na podu. – Don’t leave the laundry on the floor.

Even though it refers to many items, grammatically it behaves like a singular:

Rublje je mokro. – The laundry is wet. (verb in 3rd person singular)

So in your sentence prati rublje is simply wash the laundry / do the laundry.

Why is ručno at the end (prati rublje ručno)? Can it be placed elsewhere?

Ručно is an adverb meaning by hand, manually.

Word order in Croatian is more flexible than in English, especially for adverbs. All of these are possible and correct:

prati rublje ručno cijeli tjedan
prati rublje cijeli tjedan ručno
ručno prati rublje cijeli tjedan

The chosen order:

prati rublje ručno cijeli tjedan

keeps the core object rublje close to prati, and ručno right next to what it is modifying (the manner of washing).

Different orders can create slightly different emphasis, but there is no grammatical problem with having ručno at the end of that phrase. It is a very natural position.

Is the whole sentence natural in modern Croatian, or is there a simpler, more colloquial version?

The original sentence is grammatically correct but sounds quite formal / bookish because it uses the pluperfect twice:

je perilica bila stala
bili smo pomislili

A more colloquial, very natural version with simple past (perfekt) would be:

Nakon što je perilica stala usred pranja, pomislili smo da ćemo morati cijeli tjedan prati rublje ručno.

Changes:

je perilica stala instead of je perilica bila stala
pomislili smo instead of bili smo pomislili
Slightly different word order at the end, but same meaning

This is the kind of sentence you would most likely hear in everyday conversation. The original is fine for written narratives, exercises, or if you explicitly want to practice the pluperfect.