Pratiteljice često komentiraju fotografiju na naslovnici njenog profila.

Female followers often comment on the photo on the cover of her profile.

Breakdown of Pratiteljice često komentiraju fotografiju na naslovnici njenog profila.

• njen: her
• često: often
• na: on
• profil: profile
• fotografija: photo
• pratiteljica: female follower
• naslovnica: cover
• komentirati: to comment

Questions & Answers about Pratiteljice često komentiraju fotografiju na naslovnici njenog profila.

Why is it pratiteljice and not something like pratitelji or pratiteljice su?

Pratiteljice is the feminine plural form of “follower.”

• Singular:
  • pratitelj – male follower
  • pratiteljica – female follower
• Plural:
  • pratitelji – male followers or a mixed group
  • pratiteljice – only female followers

So this sentence is explicitly about female followers.

Croatian also usually drops the subject pronoun (one = “they” for feminine), because the verb ending already shows the person and number. So instead of:

• One pratiteljice često komentiraju… (wrong / redundant)

you just say:

• Pratiteljice često komentiraju…
  “The (female) followers often comment …”

What form is komentiraju, and why isn’t it komentira?

Komentiraju is the 3rd person plural, present tense of the verb komentirati (“to comment”).

• ja komentiram – I comment
• ti komentiraš – you comment
• on/ona/ono komentira – he/she/it comments
• mi komentiramo – we comment
• vi komentirate – you (pl/formal) comment
• oni/one/ona komentiraju – they comment

Because the subject pratiteljice is plural, you must use komentiraju (3rd person plural), not komentira (3rd person singular).

Why is it fotografiju and not fotografija?

Fotografiju is the accusative singular form of fotografija (“photograph”).

In this sentence, fotografiju is the direct object of komentiraju:

• (Tko?) Pratiteljice
• (Što rade?) komentiraju
• (Što?) fotografiju

Feminine nouns ending in -a usually have:

• Nominative singular (dictionary form): fotografija – “a / the photograph” (as subject)
• Accusative singular (direct object): fotografiju – “(the) photograph” (being acted on)

So fotografiju is required here because it answers “what do they comment?”

Why is it na naslovnici and not na naslovnicu?

The preposition na can take either locative or accusative, depending on meaning:

• na + locative = location, “on / in something” (no movement)
• na + accusative = movement “onto / to something”

Here we describe where the photo is:

• na naslovnici – “on the front page / on the cover (of the profile)”

So naslovnici is locative singular of naslovnica (“front page, cover”). If you were talking about movement, it would be:

• Stavljam fotografiju na naslovnicu. – I’m putting the photo onto the front page. (accusative: naslovnicu)

What exactly does naslovnica mean here? Is it “cover photo”?

Literally, naslovnica means:

• “front page” (of a newspaper, magazine)

• “cover” (of a book)

  In the context of online profiles, naslovnica is often used more loosely for the main page or cover area of someone’s profile.

The phrase fotografiju na naslovnici njenog profila can be understood as:

• “the photo on the cover / on the front part of her profile”

For a more explicitly social-media phrase, Croatian often uses:

• naslovna fotografija – cover photo
• profilna fotografija – profile picture

So you might also hear:
…komentiraju naslovnu fotografiju njenog profila.

Why is it njenog profila and not just njen profil?

Njenog profila is genitive singular and appears here because:

1. The noun naslovnica forms a phrase naslovnica (čega?) profila – “the cover/front page of the profile”. That “of” relationship is expressed by genitive:

   • naslovnica profila – the cover of the profile

2. Njenog is the genitive masculine singular form of njen (“her”), agreeing with profila:

   • nominative: njen profil – her profile
   • genitive: njenog profila – of her profile

So:

• na naslovnici njenog profila
  literally: “on the front page of her profile”

Why is the possessive njenog masculine if it refers to a woman?

In Croatian, possessive adjectives agree with the noun they describe, not with the owner.

• Owner is a woman → use njen / njezin (“her”)
• But the form of that word (njen, njenog, njenoj, etc.) is determined by:
  • the gender of the noun it modifies
  • its case
  • its number

Here:

• noun: profil – masculine singular
• case: genitive (profila)
• correct possessive form: njenog

So we get:

• njenog profila – of her profile (masc. sg. gen.)

If the noun were feminine, the form would change, e.g.:

• naslovnica njenog profila – “the cover of her profile”
  (naslovnica is feminine, but njenog still matches profil, not naslovnica, because it modifies profil)

Can the adverb često be placed somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Često (“often”) is quite flexible in word order. Common positions include:

• Pratiteljice često komentiraju fotografiju… – neutral, very natural
• Često pratiteljice komentiraju fotografiju… – stresses the frequency a bit more
• Pratiteljice komentiraju često fotografiju… – possible, but less common / slightly marked
• Pratiteljice često komentiraju onu fotografiju… – if you want to highlight or contrast that photo

The most usual and neutral in this sentence is exactly what you have: subject – čесто – verb.

What about aspect: is there a difference between komentiraju and something like prokomentiraju?

Yes, Croatian distinguishes between imperfective and perfective verbs.

• komentirati – imperfective (“to be commenting, to comment habitually / repeatedly”)
• prokomentirati – perfective (“to comment once / complete the act of commenting”)

Because the sentence talks about something that happens often, the imperfective is the natural choice:

• Pratiteljice često komentiraju… – They often (regularly) comment …

A perfective form (prokomentiraju) would usually sound odd with često, because perfective tends to describe single, completed events, not repeated habits.

Could we say svojeg profila instead of njenog profila here?

No, not in this sentence.

• svoj is the reflexive possessive (“one’s own”). It’s used when the owner is the subject of the sentence.

Here:

• subject: pratiteljice (they, plural feminine)
• possessor in meaning: one woman (her profile)

So the profile does not belong to the subject. Therefore you must use njenog (“her”), not svog/svojeg (“their own”).

You would use svoj like this:

• Pratiteljice često komentiraju fotografiju na naslovnici svog profila.
  = The followers (the same people as the subject) often comment on the photo on the cover of their own profile.

In your original sentence, njenog profila means some other woman’s profile, not the followers’ own profile.