Learn Hardcore Croatian: Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća miriše prejako na ulje. - If we fry the onion too much, the house smells too strongly of oil.

Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća miriše prejako na ulje.
= If we fry onions too much, the house smells too strongly of oil.
(General rule / what usually happens.)

This pattern is especially common for:

general truths and habits
things that are expected to happen whenever the condition is met

You can use the future as well:

Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća će prejako mirisati na ulje.
Ako budemo previše pržili luk, kuća će prejako mirisati na ulje.

These versions focus more on a specific future situation, while the original sentence sounds more like a general observation about what tends to happen.

What is the difference between ako and kad in a sentence like this?

Both ako and kad can introduce conditional-like clauses, but they don’t feel the same:

ako ≈ if (possibility, not guaranteed)
kad ≈ when / whenever (seen as certain or regularly happening)

So:

Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća miriše prejako na ulje.
→ If we (ever) fry onions too much, the house smells strongly of oil.
(It’s a possibility; maybe it happens, maybe not.)
Kad previše pržimo luk, kuća miriše prejako na ulje.
→ When(ever) we fry onions too much, the house smells strongly of oil.
(Assumes that this definitely does sometimes happen; every time it does, the result follows.)

In everyday speech, both can appear here, but kad feels more like a description of a repeated pattern, while ako focuses more on the conditional if idea.

Why is there no subject pronoun mi before pržimo?

Croatian is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns are usually omitted because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

pržimo (ending -imo) clearly marks 1st person plural → we fry.

So:

Previše pržimo luk.
is normally preferred in neutral speech.

You would add mi only for emphasis or contrast:

Mi previše pržimo luk.
→ We fry the onions too much (unlike someone else).

This sentence can also be understood as a kind of general “we”, similar to English usage like We put onions in almost everything (meaning ‘people in general’, ‘we in this household’, etc.).

Why is luk singular? How can that mean “onions”?

In cooking contexts, Croatian often uses a singular mass noun where English uses a plural:

luk = onion as a substance / ingredient → “onion”, “onions” (in general)
lukovi = onions as separate items, or in more literal contexts

So:

pržimo luk
→ we fry onion / we fry onions (as an ingredient)

If you want to stress how many whole onions, you can say:

tri luka or tri glavice luka → three onions (three heads of onion)

Also note:

luk on its own usually means onion (the common bulb onion).
češnjak or bijeli luk = garlic
poriluk = leek

In recipes and everyday speech, singular luk is very often used in a generic sense: “onion(s)”.

What exactly does previše modify here, and where else could it go?

In Ako previše pržimo luk…, previše is an adverb modifying the verb pržimo:

previše pržimo → we fry too much / we over-fry / we fry for too long / too intensively (context decides which nuance you feel).

Word order options:

Ako previše pržimo luk… (most neutral; previše right before the verb)
Ako pržimo previše luk(a)…
→ different meaning: previše now modifies luk(a) = we fry too much onion (too large a quantity).
Ako pržimo luk previše…
→ grammatically OK; sounds a bit more like adding too much as an afterthought.

So placement changes what is “too much”:

previše pržimo luk → the frying is excessive (time/intensity)
previše luka pržimo → the amount of onion is excessive

What is the difference between previše and prejako here? Can I swap them?

They modify different things:

previše = too much / too many / too long / excessively (in amount or degree)
→ here it modifies the action pržimo (how much we fry).
prejako = too strongly / too intensely
→ here it modifies miriše (how strong the smell is).

So:

previše pržimo luk → we overdo the frying
kuća miriše prejako → the house smells too strongly

You generally cannot just swap them:

kuća previše miriše na ulje
is grammatically possible, but sounds odd; native speakers would usually say prejako miriše.

In contrast:

kuća previše smrdi na ulje
(with smrdi = stinks) sounds quite natural: the amount of bad smell is too much.

Very roughly:

previše → focuses on quantity / extent (too much of something)
prejako → focuses on strength / intensity (too strong, too loud, too bright, too strong a smell, etc.)

Why is it miriše na ulje? Why na, and why is ulje in that form?

The verb mirisati (to smell (like)) normally takes na + accusative when you say what something smells like:

mirišati na kavu → to smell like coffee
mirišati na dim → to smell of smoke
mirišati na ruže → to smell of roses
mirišati na ulje → to smell of oil

Ulje is accusative singular neuter. For neuter nouns, nominative and accusative have the same form, so it just looks like the base form.

Compare with other possible patterns:

mirišati uljem (instrumental)
→ literally “to smell with oil”, “to give off the smell of oil”; possible, but na + accusative is more common and more neutral here.
na ulju (locative) would mean “on the oil” (locational), so it’s not used with mirisati in this sense.

So the default construction is:

[subject] + mirisati + na + [noun in accusative]
Kuća miriše na ulje.

Can I say Kuća prejako miriše na ulje instead of Kuća miriše prejako na ulje?

Yes, both are acceptable:

Kuća miriše prejako na ulje.
Kuća prejako miriše na ulje.

Both mean: The house smells too strongly of oil.

Adverbs like prejako and jako have relatively flexible positions around the verb. The most common pattern in everyday speech is to put them right before the verb:

Kuća prejako miriše na ulje.

Putting prejako after miriše is also fine and doesn’t change the meaning in any important way; at most, you get a very slight shift in emphasis (on the smelling itself), but for most speakers it’s just stylistic.

Why use miriše and not smrdi? Is the smell here positive or negative?

Croatian distinguishes between two main verbs for “smell”:

mirisati → to smell (nice / pleasant / neutral)
smrdjeti → to smell bad, to stink

So:

Kuća miriše na kolače. → The house smells of cakes. (pleasant)
Kuća smrdi na dim. → The house stinks of smoke. (unpleasant)

In Kuća miriše prejako na ulje, mirisati suggests a neutral or slightly positive view of the smell (like food cooking). It could still be “too strong”, but not necessarily disgusting.

If you want to make it clearly negative, you’d more likely say:

Kuća prejako smrdi na ulje. → The house really stinks of oil.

So choosing miriše vs smrdi tells the listener how pleasant or unpleasant you consider the smell.

Could we say Ako previše ispržimo luk instead of Ako previše pržimo luk? What is the difference?

Yes, but the aspect changes the nuance:

pržiti = imperfective (focus on the process, duration, habit)
ispržiti = perfective (focus on a single completed result)

In conditionals:

Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća miriše prejako na ulje.
→ general rule / habit: whenever we over-fry (as a process), the house smells.
Ako previše ispržimo luk, kuća će prejako mirisati na ulje.
→ usually refers to a specific event: If we (this time) over-fry the onions, the house will smell…

So for general observations or repeated situations, imperfective pržiti is more natural. Perfective ispržiti fits better when you’re talking about one particular future or one-time action, often with a future tense in the result clause.

How flexible is the word order in this sentence? Are other orders possible?

Croatian word order is relatively flexible, but not all permutations sound natural. Some common, acceptable variations include:

Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća miriše prejako na ulje. (original)
Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća prejako miriše na ulje.
Ako previše pržimo luk, cijela kuća miriše prejako na ulje.
(cijela kuća adds emphasis: “the whole house”)

You can move luk a bit:

Ako luk previše pržimo, kuća miriše prejako na ulje.
(slightly marked, with more focus on luk)

But extreme reorderings, like:

Ako prejako na ulje miriše kuća…

sound very unnatural unless you are trying to create a very poetic or heavily emphasized style.

In neutral speech, the original order:

Ako previše pržimo luk, kuća miriše prejako na ulje.

is exactly the kind of order you would expect: condition first, then result, with adverbs close to the verbs they modify.