Learn Hardcore Croatian: On prati vijesti na internetu svaki dan. - He follows the news on the internet every day.

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending (-i in prati) already tells you it’s he/she/it, so the personal pronoun (on / ona / ono) is usually omitted unless:

you want to emphasize the subject:
- On prati vijesti, a ja ne. – He follows the news, but I don’t.
you want to contrast two subjects:
- On prati vijesti, a ona ne prati. – He follows the news, but she doesn’t.

What is the infinitive of prati and how is it conjugated?

The infinitive is pratiti (to follow, to track, to keep up with).

Present tense (imperfective) conjugation:

ja pratim – I follow
ti pratiš – you (sg.) follow
on/ona/ono prati – he/she/it follows
mi pratimo – we follow
vi pratite – you (pl./formal) follow
oni/one/ona prate – they follow

In the sentence, prati is 3rd person singular present (he follows).

Why do we use pratiti here and not slijediti or gledati?

These verbs are related but not the same:

pratiti vijesti – to follow the news, keep up with the news
- implies regularly checking updates, staying informed
gledati vijesti – to watch the news (usually TV or a video)
- focuses on the act of watching
slijediti vijesti – grammatically possible but unusual in this meaning
- slijediti = to follow (physically / follow someone’s lead / obey), not normally used with news

For “He follows the news on the internet every day”, pratiti is the natural choice in Croatian.

Is prati talking about something happening right now, or a regular habit?

Croatian present tense (especially with an imperfective verb like pratiti) can mean:

Right now:
- (Sada) prati vijesti. – He is (right now) following/reading the news.
Habit / repeated action:
- Prati vijesti na internetu svaki dan. – He follows the news on the internet every day.

Here, the adverbial svaki dan (every day) clearly shows it’s a habitual action.

Why is vijesti plural, when “news” in English is singular/uncountable?

In Croatian, vijest literally means “a piece of news / a news item / a report”.

jedna vijest – one news item
dvije / tri / mnogo vijesti – two / three / many news items

So vijesti is just the normal plural noun meaning “news items”. When Croatians talk about “the news” in general, they almost always say it in the plural:

Pratim vijesti. – I follow the news.
Dobre su vijesti. – That’s good news.

English uses an uncountable news; Croatian treats them as countable pieces (vijest, vijesti).

What case is vijesti in, and what is the singular form?

The basic form (dictionary form) is:

vijest – news item, report (feminine singular, nominative)

In the sentence:

prati (što?) vijesti – follows what? – vijesti
→ This is accusative plural, used for the direct object of the verb.

For this noun type, nominative plural and accusative plural look the same:

nominative plural: vijesti (as subject)
- Vijesti su zanimljive. – The news (items) are interesting.
accusative plural: vijesti (as object)
- Pratim vijesti. – I follow the news.

So here it’s accusative plural, but it looks identical to the nominative plural.

Why is it na internetu and not na internet or u internetu?

The preposition na can take locative (location) or accusative (direction):

na + locative = on / in (static, where something happens)
- na internetu – on the internet (location)
- na stolu – on the table
na + accusative = onto / to (movement towards)
- Idem na internet. – I’m going online / onto the internet.
- Stavi knjigu na stol. – Put the book on the table.

In On prati vijesti na internetu, the action happens on the internet, not towards it, so locative is used:

internet (dictionary form, nominative)
(na) internetu – locative singular

u internetu would literally mean inside the internet and is not used in this context.

What case and form is internetu exactly?

Dictionary form:

internet – masculine singular, nominative

Case in the sentence:

na čemu? – on what? → na internetu
→ locative singular of internet

Masculine nouns ending in a consonant often take -u in the locative singular:

grad → u gradu – in the city
park → u parku – in the park
internet → na internetu – on the internet

What does svaki dan literally mean, and what case is it?

svaki dan literally = “every day”.

dan – day (masculine noun)
svaki – every (masculine form of the adjective)

Grammatically, svaki dan is in the accusative case used as a time expression (time when / how often something happens). Croatian often uses bare accusative (no preposition) for time expressions:

svaki dan – every day
prošli tjedan – last week
cijelu noć – all night

So here, svaki dan functions as an adverbial of time: it tells you how often he follows the news.

What is the difference between svaki dan and svakog dana?

Both are common and both mean “every day”:

svaki dan – accusative
svakog dana – genitive

In everyday speech, svaki dan is more frequent and neutral.
svakog dana can sound slightly more formal, emphatic, or stylistic, but in many contexts they are interchangeable:

On prati vijesti na internetu svaki dan.
On prati vijesti na internetu svakog dana.

Both are correct; use svaki dan as your default.

How flexible is the word order in this sentence? Can we move svaki dan or na internetu?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible. All of these are grammatically correct, with small differences in emphasis:

On prati vijesti na internetu svaki dan. – neutral, straightforward
On svaki dan prati vijesti na internetu. – slight emphasis on every day
Svaki dan prati vijesti na internetu. – starting with the time frame
Na internetu prati vijesti svaki dan. – slight emphasis on on the internet
Vijesti prati na internetu svaki dan. – fronting vijesti for focus

The basic neutral order for learners is:

[Subject] [Verb] [Object] [Place] [Time]
On prati vijesti na internetu svaki dan.

Later you can play with word order to highlight what you want to emphasize.

Are there synonyms for vijesti in this meaning?

Yes, common near‑synonyms include:

novosti – news, new things
- Pratim novosti na internetu. – I follow the news/updates online.
informacije – information (a bit broader and more general)
- Traži informacije na internetu. – He looks for information on the internet.

However, for “the news” as we usually mean it (current events, politics, etc.), vijesti is the most standard and natural word.

How do you pronounce vijesti and prati?

Pronunciation (rough English approximation):

vijesti → vee-yes-tee
- v as in victory
- i as in machine
- j like English y in yes
- stress usually on the first syllable: VÍ‑jes‑ti
prati → pra-tee
- r is rolled or tapped
- a as in father
- ti as in tea
- stress on the first syllable: PRÁ‑ti

Croatian spelling is very phonetic: each letter is almost always pronounced the same way, and every letter is pronounced.