Learn Hardcore Croatian: Moj prijedlog je drukčiji: da prvo prošećemo uz rijeku, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu. - My suggestion is different: that we first walk along the river, and only then treat ourselves to a coffee.

Moj prijedlog = my suggestion
- moj – masculine singular nominative (agrees with prijedlog)
- prijedlog – masculine singular nominative (suggestion, proposal)
je – 3rd person singular of biti (to be)
drukčiji – masculine singular nominative of the adjective different

So you have a very standard “X je Y” structure with:

subject in nominative (Moj prijedlog)
linking verb (je)
predicate adjective in nominative agreeing with the subject (drukčiji)

The word order is flexible. You can also say:

Moj je prijedlog drukčiji. (slight emphasis on prijedlog)
Prijedlog mi je drukčiji. (more colloquial, with mi instead of moj)

All are grammatical; the basic grammar is “My suggestion is different.”

What is the difference between drukčiji, drugačiji, and različit?

All three can mean “different”, but there are nuances:

drukčiji and drugačiji
- Near‑synonyms, both very common.
- In everyday conversation you can usually swap them:
  - Moj prijedlog je drukčiji.
  - Moj prijedlog je drugačiji.
- Style/region: some speakers prefer one or the other, but there is no big meaning difference.
različit
- Also “different”, but a bit more neutral or formal, often for general difference:
  - Imamo različite prijedloge. – We have different proposals.
- Sounds slightly less colloquial than drukčiji / drugačiji in a sentence like this.

In this specific sentence you could use any of the three; drukčiji just sounds nicely conversational.

Why is there a colon after drukčiji instead of a comma or a full stop?

The colon introduces the content of the suggestion:

Moj prijedlog je drukčiji: [da prvo prošećemo uz rijeku, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu].

It works like English:

My suggestion is different: first we walk along the river, then we treat ourselves to a coffee.

You could also write:

Moj je prijedlog drukčiji. Prvo prošećemo uz rijeku, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu.

That is acceptable too; it just splits things into two sentences.
What is not natural is a comma directly before da here:

✗ Moj je prijedlog drukčiji, da prvo prošećemo… – sounds wrong/foreign.

So the colon is a good way to show “here is exactly what my different suggestion is”.

What does da do in da prvo prošećemo uz rijeku? Is it like English “that”?

Yes. Here da is a conjunction roughly meaning “that”, introducing the content clause of the suggestion:

Moj prijedlog je [da prvo prošećemo uz rijeku …].
= My suggestion is *that we first walk along the river …*

This da + finite verb pattern is extremely common after verbs/nouns of:

suggestion: predložiti, prijedlog je da…
desire: želim da…
intention/plan: plan je da…

Semantically, it often corresponds to English “that we should …” or to a kind of soft imperative / suggestion.

Is this sentence basically a way of saying “let’s…” in Croatian?

Functionally, yes.

The pattern:

Moj prijedlog je da + 1st person plural

is a very natural way to propose a joint action, similar to English “My suggestion is that we…” or just “Let’s…”.

Other common “let’s” strategies in Croatian:

Hajdemo / Idemo prvo prošetati uz rijeku, pa si onda priuštimo kavu.
Prvo prošetajmo uz rijeku, pa si onda priuštimo kavu.
(true 1st‑person imperative prošetajmo, sounds a bit more formal/literary)

But Moj prijedlog je drukčiji: da prvo prošećemo… is a perfectly normal polite proposal.

What tense/aspect are prošećemo and priuštimo, and why do they refer to a future action?

Both forms are 1st person plural and in meaning they refer to a single, planned future action.

priuštimo – 1st person plural present of priuštiti (si) (perfective)
prošećemo – formally looks like a contracted future form of prošetati
(from prošetat ćemo → prošećemo in everyday speech)

Key points for you as a learner:

Perfective aspect
Both verbs are perfective, describing one complete action:
- prošetati – to take a walk (once)
- priuštiti (si) – to treat oneself / to allow oneself (once)
“Present” after da = future meaning
After da, Croatian very often uses present‑tense forms of perfective verbs to talk about future plans:
- Predlažem da sutra odemo u kino. – I suggest that we (should) go to the cinema tomorrow.
- Moj prijedlog je da prvo prošetamo uz rijeku… – My suggestion is that we first (should) take a walk…
So even when the morphology is “present”, the time reference is future.

In careful standard language you will most often see:

da prvo prošetamo uz rijeku, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu.

The version with contracted future prošećemo is something you will definitely hear in speech; you can safely aim for da + present in your own Croatian.

Why is it prošetati / prošećemo and not just šetati – what is the difference?

The difference is aspect:

šetati (se) – imperfective
- Focus on ongoing or repeated walking.
- Examples:
  - Volimo šetati uz rijeku. – We like walking along the river (in general).
  - Šetali smo sat vremena. – We were walking for an hour.
prošetati (se) – perfective
- One single, complete walk – “to (go and) take a walk”.
- Example:
  - Hajdemo se prošetati. – Let’s (go and) take a walk.

In our sentence there is a single, planned walk before the coffee, so the perfective is the natural choice:

da prvo prošetamo / prošećemo uz rijeku…

If you use šetati here (da prvo šetamo uz rijeku), it sounds more like “that we be walking along the river (for some time)” – not wrong, but less idiomatic for a simple “let’s take a walk” plan.

What does uz rijeku mean exactly, and what case is rijeku?

uz
- accusative = along, (right) next to, up against

rijeku is the accusative singular of rijeka (river):

Nominative: rijeka – a river
Accusative: rijeku – a / the river (as object or after some prepositions)

With uz, the idea is typically of movement along the side of something or being very close to it:

prošetati uz rijeku – to take a walk along the river
sjediti uz prozor – to sit by the window / next to the window

Compare:

pored / kraj / pokraj rijeke – by / next to the river (more static, “beside”)
duž rijeke – along the length of the river (emphasises extension)

Here uz rijeku fits nicely for “strolling along the river”.

What does the little word pa do in …, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu?

pa is a coordinating conjunction. In this context it mainly means:

“and then”,
or sometimes “and so / and as a result”.

So:

… da prvo prošećemo uz rijeku, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu.
≈ … that we first walk along the river, *and then treat ourselves to a coffee.*

It also gives the sentence a slightly more informal, conversational rhythm than a simple i:

… i onda si tek priuštimo kavu. – also possible, just a bit flatter in tone.

In speech, pa often links steps in a sequence: odemo tamo, pa kupimo… pa se vratimo…

What does tek onda add to the meaning? How is it different from just onda?

onda – then, after that
tek onda – only then, not before that, only at that point

So:

onda – neutral sequence: first A, then B.
tek onda – emphasizes “not until after A”.

In the sentence:

…, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu.
≈ … and *only then do we treat ourselves to a coffee.*

It subtly stresses the priority:
first the walk, and only after that the coffee – no skipping straight to coffee.

You can also sometimes flip it:

Onda tek priuštimo si kavu. – similar meaning, but emphasis shifts slightly to onda.

What does si priuštimo kavu literally mean?

Literally:

priuštiti (si) što – to allow oneself something, to treat oneself to something, to afford something for oneself

Breaking it down:

priuštimo – 1st person plural of priuštiti (perfective)
si – reflexive dative pronoun (“to ourselves”)
kavu – accusative singular of kava (coffee)

So si priuštimo kavu is literally:

we allow (for) ourselves a coffee
→ naturally: we treat ourselves to a coffee / we indulge in a coffee.

Without si, priuštiti kavu would sound more like “to provide/afford a coffee (for someone)”, and you’d typically have to mention for whom: priuštiti nekome kavu. With si, it clearly means we’re the ones enjoying it.

Where does the little word si have to go? Why not pa tek onda priuštimo si kavu?

si is a clitic (a short unstressed word), and Croatian clitics follow a fairly strict “second position” rule:

In a clause, the first stressed word/phrase comes first,
then the clitic(s),
then the rest of the clause.

In our clause:

First element: pa (and then)
Clitic: si
Then adverb and verb: tek onda priuštimo kavu

So you get:

…, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu.

If you remove pa tek onda, you can say:

Priuštimo si kavu. – “Let’s treat ourselves to a coffee.”

But when there are words before the verb, clitics typically jump up after the first element:

Onda si priuštimo kavu.
Tada si priuštimo kavu.

✗ pa tek onda priuštimo si kavu sounds unnatural because si is no longer in that preferred second‑position slot.

Why is it kavu and not kava? And what about kafu that I sometimes see?

The base word is:

kava – coffee (feminine noun, nominative singular, standard Croatian form)

Here, kavu is the accusative singular, used as the direct object of priuštiti si:

priuštiti si što? → kavu
(what do we treat ourselves to? a coffee)

Declension:

Nominative: kava – coffee (subject)
Accusative: kavu – coffee (object)

About kafa / kafu:

kafa (nom.), kafu (acc.) are the usual Serbian forms.
Croatian standard prefers kava / kavu.

So in standard Croatian:

… priuštimo kavu.

In Serbian:

… priuštimo kafu.

Could I just say popijemo kavu instead of si priuštimo kavu? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say popijemo kavu, but the nuance changes:

popiti kavu – simply to drink a coffee (one complete act of drinking)
priuštiti si kavu – to treat ourselves to a coffee, to indulge in a coffee

So:

… pa popijemo kavu. – neutral: then we drink a coffee.
… pa si priuštimo kavu. – slightly more expressive: then we reward ourselves with a coffee / indulge in a coffee.

Both are correct; the original just sounds a bit more “we deserve it” or “let’s spoil ourselves a little”.

Could da be omitted, like in Moj prijedlog je drukčiji: prvo prošećemo uz rijeku…? Would that change the meaning?

You can omit da, but the structure and feel change slightly.

Original:

Moj prijedlog je drukčiji: da prvo prošećemo uz rijeku, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu.

Here da makes the whole part after it a subordinate content clause tightly tied to prijedlog je:

My suggestion is *that we first walk…, and only then treat ourselves…*

If you drop da after the colon:

Moj prijedlog je drukčiji: prvo prošećemo uz rijeku, pa si tek onda priuštimo kavu.

Now the part after the colon reads more like independent instructions listed after “My suggestion is different: …”. It’s still natural, especially in speech or informal writing, and the practical meaning is nearly the same.

So:

With da – more clearly grammatical complement of “prijedlog je”.
Without da – more like “Here’s what we do: first we walk…, then we have coffee.” Both are acceptable.