Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer.

We read the news online in the evening.

Breakdown of Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer.

• čitati: to read
• navečer: in the evening
• vijest: news
• na mreži: online

Questions & Answers about Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer.

What does “Na mreži” literally mean, and is this how you normally say “online” in Croatian?

Literally, na mreži means “on the net” (on the network).

In everyday Croatian, na mreži is a perfectly normal way to say “online”. Another very common option is na internetu (“on the Internet”).

So, all of these are natural in most contexts:

• Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer. – We read the news online in the evening.
• Na internetu čitamo vijesti navečer. – Same meaning.

Na mreži can sound slightly more general/techy (“on the network / online”), while na internetu refers specifically to the Internet, but in practice they often overlap and both are widely understood as “online”.

Why does “mreža” change to “mreži” here?

Mreža is a feminine noun meaning “net / network”.

• Its basic (dictionary) form is mreža – nominative singular.
• In the sentence Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer, it’s used after the preposition na to express location (“on the net”).

With na and a static location (no movement), Croatian uses the locative case, so mreža → mreži (locative singular):

• Nominative: mreža – “the net (as subject)”
• Locative: (na) mreži – “on the net”

So mreži is just mreža in the locative case, required by the preposition na in the meaning “on (in a place)”.

Why is there no word for “we” in the Croatian sentence?

Croatian normally drops subject pronouns (like I, you, we) because the verb ending shows who the subject is.

The verb čitamo is the 1st person plural present tense form of čitati (“to read”), and it already means “we read”. So you don’t need mi (“we”):

• Čitamo vijesti. – We read the news.
• Mi čitamo vijesti. – We read the news. (pronoun added for emphasis or contrast)

You only add mi if you really want to stress we (as opposed to someone else), for example:

• Mi čitamo vijesti na mreži, a oni čitaju novine.
  – We read the news online, and they read newspapers.

What verb is “čitamo” from, and how is it conjugated?

Čitamo is the 1st person plural present tense of the verb čitati – “to read”.

Present tense of čitati:

• ja čitam – I read
• ti čitaš – you read (sing., informal)
• on/ona/ono čita – he/she/it reads
• mi čitamo – we read
• vi čitate – you read (pl. or formal)
• oni/one/ona čitaju – they read

So čitamo on its own means “we read”.

Is “čitamo” describing a habit (“we usually read”) or something happening right now?

The Croatian present tense is flexible. With an imperfective verb like čitati, it can mean:

1. Habitual / repeated action

   • Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer.
     → “We (usually) read the news online in the evening.”

2. Action happening right now (in the right context)

   • Što radite? – “What are you doing?”
   • Čitamo vijesti na mreži. – “We’re reading the news online.”

In your sentence, adding navečer (“in the evening”) makes it sound clearly like a habit or routine.

What exactly is “vijesti”? Is it singular or plural, and what case is it in?

Vijest means “(a piece of) news, a news item”.

Its plural is vijesti, and that form is used in both:

• nominative plural – subject: Vijesti su važne. (“The news is important.”)
• accusative plural – direct object: Čitamo vijesti. (“We read the news.”)

In Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer, vijesti is:

• plural, and
• in the accusative case as the direct object of čitamo.

So grammatically it is “news items” in the plural, but in English we usually just say “the news”.

Why is there no word for “the” in “the news”? How do you express “the” in Croatian?

Croatian does not have articles like “a / an / the”.

• Čitamo vijesti. could mean “We read news,” “We read the news,” or even “We are reading some news,” depending on context.
• Definiteness (whether it’s the specific news) is understood from context or added detail, not from a word like “the.”

If you need to be more specific, you can use demonstratives and similar words, e.g.:

• Čitamo te vijesti. – We read those news items.
• Čitamo najnovije vijesti. – We read the latest news.

But there is no direct equivalent of the English “the.”

Can the word order change? For example, can I say “Vijesti čitamo na mreži navečer”?

Yes. Croatian word order is quite flexible, and you can move parts of the sentence around to change emphasis, not basic meaning. Some possible variants:

• Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer. – Neutral, slight focus on online as setting.
• Čitamo vijesti na mreži navečer. – Very natural, slightly more neutral.
• Vijesti čitamo na mreži navečer. – Emphasises vijesti (“It’s the news that we read online in the evening”).
• Navečer na mreži čitamo vijesti. – Emphasises navečer (“In the evening, online, we read the news”).

The sentence you gave is already natural. Changing order is mostly about what you want to highlight, not about correctness.

What does “navečer” mean exactly, and how is it different from just “večer”?

• večer is a noun: “evening”.

  • Ova večer – this evening
  • Svake večeri – every evening

• navečer is an adverb: “in the evening” / “at night (in the evenings)”.
  It answers “when?” and is used like “in the evening” in English:

  • Navečer čitamo vijesti. – We read the news in the evening.
  • Ne volim učiti navečer. – I don’t like to study in the evening.

So:

• večer – a thing/time (“evening” itself)
• navečer – when something happens (“in the evening”, habitually or generally)

Can “navečer” be placed in a different position in the sentence?

Yes. Navečer is a time adverb, and Croatian allows it in several positions. All of these are acceptable:

• Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer.
• Na mreži navečer čitamo vijesti.
• Navečer na mreži čitamo vijesti.
• Čitamo navečer vijesti na mreži. (less neutral, but possible in context)

The differences are mostly about rhythm and emphasis. Beginning the sentence with Navečer emphasizes the time:

• Navečer na mreži čitamo vijesti.
  → In the evening, we read the news online.

Is there any difference between “navečer” and “uvečer”?

Both navečer and uvečer can mean “in the evening”, and both are understood.

However:

• navečer is more common and more neutral in modern standard Croatian.
• uvečer is also used, but can sound a bit more old-fashioned or more regional in some areas.

In most cases, if you want a safe, standard choice, use navečer:

• Navečer čitamo vijesti. – preferred in standard usage.

Could you say “online” instead of “na mreži” in Croatian?

Yes, English “online” is also used in Croatian, especially in tech, advertising, and casual speech:

• Online čitamo vijesti navečer.

But for neutral, standard Croatian, na mreži or na internetu are more “Croatian-sounding” and are better choices in formal writing or in language learning materials:

• Na mreži čitamo vijesti navečer.
• Na internetu čitamo vijesti navečer.

So online is understandable, but na mreži / na internetu are more native-style equivalents.