Breakdown of U loncu polako kuhaju rajčice i drugi začini.
Questions & Answers about U loncu polako kuhaju rajčice i drugi začini.
Loncu is in the locative singular case of lonac (pot).
With the preposition u, Croatian uses:
- Accusative for movement into something:
- U lonac stavljam vodu. = I’m putting water into the pot.
- Locative for location inside something (no movement):
- U loncu je voda. = The water is in the pot.
- U loncu polako kuhaju… = They are slowly cooking in the pot.
In this sentence there is no movement; it just describes where the cooking is happening, so u + locative (u loncu) is used.
The neutral word order in Croatian is indeed often Subject–Verb–Object (SVO), so you could say:
- Rajčice i drugi začini polako kuhaju u loncu.
However, Croatian has fairly flexible word order, mainly used to change emphasis or information flow, not basic meaning.
By starting with:
- U loncu polako kuhaju…
the sentence first sets the place (u loncu) and the action (polako kuhaju), and only then adds which things are cooking (rajčice i drugi začini). It’s similar to English variations like:
- In the pot, tomatoes and other spices are slowly cooking.
All of these orders are grammatical; they just sound slightly different in style and emphasis.
The verb agrees with the subject, not with the word in the prepositional phrase.
- Subject: rajčice i drugi začini (tomatoes and other spices) → this is plural (more than one item).
- Prepositional phrase: u loncu (in the pot) → this just shows where, and does not affect agreement.
So the verb is 3rd person plural:
- Infinitive: kuhati (to cook / to boil)
- 3rd sg: (on/ona/ono) kuha = he/she/it cooks / is cooking
- 3rd pl: (oni/one/ona) kuhaju = they cook / are cooking
Because the subject is plural, we use kuhaju.
Rajčice is:
- Nominative plural (subject of the sentence),
- Feminine,
- From the singular noun rajčica (tomato).
Feminine nouns ending in -a often form the nominative plural in -e:
- rajčica → rajčice
- jabuka → jabuke
- žlica → žlice
Note: for an inanimate feminine noun like rajčica, the accusative plural is also rajčice, so only the context shows that here it is the subject, not the object.
Drugi normally means:
- second (as an ordinal number), or
- other / another (like English other spices).
In this sentence, drugi začini = other spices / other seasonings.
Agreement:
- začini = masculine nominative plural (subject)
- Adjectives and similar words agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
- Masculine nominative plural form of drugi is also drugi.
So we get:
- drugi začini (masc. nom. pl.)
- Compare:
- druga rajčica (fem. nom. sg.) – another tomato
- drugo povrće (neut. nom. sg.) – other vegetables
Začini is:
- Nominative plural, masculine, from začin (spice / seasoning).
Typical forms:
- sg: začin
- pl: začini
Meaning:
- Most often spices, seasonings, sometimes loosely herbs, depending on context.
- In drugi začini, you’d usually translate it as other spices or other seasonings.
Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct:
- U loncu se polako kuhaju rajčice i drugi začini.
Difference in nuance:
- kuhaju (without se):
More like someone is cooking the tomatoes and spices in the pot (an active process by a cook, implied). - kuhaju se (with se):
Closer to the tomatoes and spices are cooking / are being cooked (emphasizes that they are undergoing the process, a bit more passive-like).
In everyday speech, both versions are used, and context usually makes it clear that the ingredients are in the pot being cooked.
Croatian (like most Slavic languages) does not have articles (no direct equivalents of a/an and the).
So:
- U loncu polako kuhaju rajčice i drugi začini.
can be translated depending on context as:
- Tomatoes and other spices are slowly cooking in the pot.
- The tomatoes and other spices are slowly cooking in the pot.
- Some tomatoes and other spices are slowly cooking in the pot.
Definiteness is understood from:
- context (what has already been mentioned),
- situation,
- word order and emphasis, not from a specific word like the.
Croatian does not use a separate auxiliary “to be” for the present continuous like English does.
- English: They are cooking.
- Croatian: Kuhaju. (literally: they cook, but also they are cooking)
The simple present in Croatian usually covers both:
- habitual: They cook tomatoes every day. → Svaki dan kuhaju rajčice.
- ongoing right now: They are cooking tomatoes. → Sada kuhaju rajčice.
If you add su plus a past participle, you get a different tense and meaning, e.g.:
- Rajčice su kuhane. = The tomatoes are cooked (already done), not are cooking.
Yes. Common and natural options include:
- U loncu polako kuhaju rajčice i drugi začini.
- U loncu rajčice i drugi začini polako kuhaju.
- Rajčice i drugi začini polako kuhaju u loncu.
In general:
- Adverbs like polako usually appear before the verb or directly after it.
- Moving polako changes the rhythm and subtle emphasis, but not the core meaning.
Putting it very far from the verb (e.g. at the very end after many other elements) can sound a bit odd, but still understandable.
The infinitive is kuhati.
Its meaning covers both:
- to cook (prepare food with heat),
- to boil (when something is cooking in boiling liquid).
Context usually decides how you translate it:
- U loncu polako kuhaju rajčice i drugi začini.
→ Tomatoes and other spices are slowly cooking / simmering in the pot. - Voda kuha.
→ The water is boiling.
If you want to stress that something is boiled until done, you might use the perfective skuhati:
- Skuhati juhu. = to cook/boil the soup until it’s done.