Learn Hardcore Croatian: Na tečaju dobivamo dodatne vježbe svaki tjedan. - In the course we receive additional exercises every week.

Na tečaju literally means “on (the) course”, but in English we say “on the course / in the course / on the course programme” or simply “on the course”.

Croatian often uses na where English uses on or at, especially with events and organized activities:

na tečaju – on/at the course
na koncertu – at the concert
na predavanju – at the lecture
na poslu – at work

U is more for being inside a physical space:

u učionici – in the classroom
u školi – in the school

A course is seen as an event/activity you attend, so Croatian uses na, and the noun is put in the locative case: na tečaju = at the course.

What case is tečaju, and what is the base form of the word?

The base (dictionary) form is tečaj (masculine noun) = “course”.

In na tečaju, the word tečaju is in the locative singular case, used after certain prepositions (like na, u) to express location.

Declension (simplified) of tečaj:

Nominative sg. (subject): tečaj – Tečaj je težak. (The course is difficult.)
Genitive sg.: tečaja – Nema tečaja danas. (There is no course today.)
Dative / Locative sg.: tečaju – Idem na tečaj. / Na tečaju učimo…
Accusative sg. (direct object): tečaj – Pohađam tečaj. (I attend a course.)
Instrumental sg.: tečajem – Bavim se tečajem. (rare in practice)

In our sentence, na + locative gives na tečaju = at the course.

Where is the word “we” in this sentence? I only see dobivamo.

Croatian usually doesn’t need a separate pronoun for “we” (or “I”, “you”, etc.) because the verb ending shows the person and number.

The verb dobivamo ends in -mo, which marks 1st person plural = “we”.

Conjugation of dobivati (to get, to receive – imperfective) in the present:

(ja) dobivam – I get
(ti) dobivaš – you get (singular)
(on/ona/ono) dobiva – he/she/it gets
(mi) dobivamo – we get
(vi) dobivate – you get (plural / formal)
(oni/one/ona) dobivaju – they get

So dobivamo by itself means “we get” / “we receive”; there is no need to add mi (“we”), unless you want to emphasize it: Mi na tečaju dobivamo…

What is the difference between dobivati and dobiti, and why is dobivamo used here?

Croatian verbs come in aspect pairs:

dobivati – imperfective aspect
dobiti – perfective aspect

Imperfective (dobivati) describes ongoing, repeated, or habitual actions.
Perfective (dobiti) describes a single, completed action.

In our sentence:

Na tečaju dobivamo dodatne vježbe svaki tjedan.
= At the course we get extra exercises every week.

This is a regular, repeated action, so the imperfective form dobivamo is natural.

If you talked about a single event, you’d use the perfective:

Na tečaju smo danas dobili dodatne vježbe.
= Today we got extra exercises at the course. (one occasion)

I’ve also seen dobijamo in some places. Is there a difference between dobivamo and dobijamo?

Yes; this is mostly a standard / regional difference.

In standard Croatian, the usual form is dobivati → dobivamo.
In Serbian and often in Bosnian, the common verb is dobijati → dobijamo.

Speakers understand both, but:

If you are learning Croatian, stick to dobivamo.
If you are learning Serbian, you’ll more often see dobijamo.

In meaning, dobivamo and dobijamo both mean “we get / we receive”, but they belong to different standard norms.

What do dodatne vježbe mean grammatically? Why dodatne, not dodatni or dodatna?

Vježba is a feminine noun meaning “exercise” (e.g. a task, practice exercise).

In the sentence, we have:

vježbe – accusative plural of vježba, because it’s the direct object of dobivamo (we get what? → extra exercises).
dodatne – feminine accusative plural form of the adjective dodatni (additional).

Adjectives in Croatian must agree with the noun in:

gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
number (singular / plural)
case

Here:

Noun: vježbe – feminine, plural, accusative
Adjective: dodatne – feminine, plural, accusative

So we say dodatne vježbe.

Examples:

jedna dodatna vježba (nom. sg., feminine) – one extra exercise
dodatnu vježbu (acc. sg.) – an extra exercise (object)
dodatne vježbe (acc. pl.) – extra exercises (object)

What case is vježbe in this sentence?

In Na tečaju dobivamo dodatne vježbe svaki tjedan, the word vježbe is in the accusative plural.

Reason: vježbe is the direct object of the verb dobivamo:

We get what? → dodatne vježbe (extra exercises).

For a typical feminine noun like vježba:

Nominative plural: vježbe (subject) – Vježbe su teške. (The exercises are hard.)
Accusative plural: vježbe (object) – Radim vježbe. (I do exercises.)

So nominative and accusative plural have the same form here, but the function in the sentence tells you it’s accusative.

Why is it svaki tjedan and not svakog tjedna? Are both correct?

Both svaki tjedan and svakog tjedna are grammatically correct, and both can mean “every week”. The difference is in the case:

svaki tjedan – accusative (svaki + accusative)
svakog tjedna – genitive (svakog + genitive)

Both patterns are used in time expressions:

svaki dan / svakog dana – every day
svaku večer / svake večeri – every evening

In everyday speech, svaki tjedan (accusative) is very common and sounds neutral.
Svakog tjedna is also normal; it can sound slightly more formal or “bookish” in some contexts, but the difference is small.

So you could also say:

Na tečaju dobivamo dodatne vježbe svakog tjedna. – perfectly fine.

Can I change the word order? For example, put svaki tjedan at the beginning?

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, especially for elements like time and place. The basic information content stays the same, but the focus/emphasis can shift slightly.

All of these are acceptable:

Na tečaju dobivamo dodatne vježbe svaki tjedan.
Svaki tjedan na tečaju dobivamo dodatne vježbe.
Svaki tjedan dobivamo dodatne vježbe na tečaju.
Dodatne vježbe dobivamo svaki tjedan na tečaju.

The most neutral, “textbook” version is close to the original, with:

Place (Na tečaju)
Verb and object (dobivamo dodatne vježbe)
Time (svaki tjedan)

Moving svaki tjedan to the front (e.g. Svaki tjedan na tečaju…) slightly emphasizes the regularity (“Every week, at the course, we get…”), but it’s completely natural.