Learn Hardcore Croatian: Sutra ću malo hodati uz rijeku. - Tomorrow I will walk a little along the river.

the auxiliary ću / ćeš / će / ćemo / ćete / će (forms of htjeti in a shortened, clitic form), plus
the infinitive of the main verb (here hodati).

So ću hodati literally corresponds to I will walk. It’s the standard, everyday future construction.

What exactly is ću and where does it come from?

Ću is the 1st person singular (I) clitic form used to make the future: I will. It historically comes from the verb htjeti (to want) but in modern Croatian this clitic is mainly just a future marker.

Full set:

ja ću = I will
ti ćeš = you will
on/ona/ono će = he/she/it will
mi ćemo = we will
vi ćete = you (pl.) will
oni/one/ona će = they will

Why isn’t ja (I) included in the sentence?

Croatian is a pro-drop language: the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb/auxiliary already shows the person. Ću already signals I, so (ja) is optional.

You can say:

Sutra ću malo hodati uz rijeku. (most natural)
Sutra ću ja malo hodati uz rijeku. (adds emphasis: I will, not someone else)

Why is the word order Sutra ću... and not Sutra ja ću... or Ja ću sutra...?

All are possible, but they differ in emphasis and in how clitics behave.

1) Sutra ću... is very neutral: time expression first, then the clitic ću in the typical “second-position clitic” area. 2) Ja ću sutra... emphasizes the subject ja more. 3) Sutra ja ću... is possible but often feels heavier; many speakers prefer Sutra ću ja... if they want both Sutra and an emphasized ja.

A useful rule of thumb: clitics like ću tend to appear very early—often right after the first “chunk” of the sentence.

What does malo do here, and can it move?

Malo means a little / for a bit and here it modifies the action hodati (walk).

It can move, with slight nuance:

Sutra ću malo hodati... = I’ll walk a bit (amount/duration is small)
Sutra ću hodati malo... = also possible, but less common in this simple sentence; can sound like an afterthought

In general, placing malo before the verb is very typical.

Why is the verb hodati in the infinitive form?

Because in this future construction (ću + infinitive), the main verb stays in the infinitive:

hodati = to walk

You don’t conjugate hodati here; the future meaning is carried by ću.

What does the preposition uz mean here?

With motion verbs like hodati, uz commonly means along / alongside / by (close to something while moving):

hodati uz rijeku = walk along the river

Depending on context, uz can also mean up (as in “up a hill”), but with rijeka in this kind of sentence it’s normally understood as alongside the river.

Why is it uz rijeku and not uz rijeka? What case is rijeku?

Uz typically takes the accusative case, so rijeka (dictionary form = nominative) becomes:

rijeka (NOM) → rijeku (ACC)

So:

uz rijeku = along the river (ACC after uz)

Is rijeku singular or plural, and how would plural look?

Rijeku is singular accusative: the river.

Plural would be:

uz rijeke = along the rivers (accusative plural for feminine inanimate nouns like rijeka)

How do you pronounce ću, hodati, and rijeku?

Approximate pronunciation cues:

ću: like choo, but with a “softer” ć sound (similar to a very palatalized t sound)
hodati: ho-DA-ti (stress often on the middle syllable in careful speech)
rijeku: roughly RYE-yeh-koo, where ije is a common Croatian vowel sequence (often realized as a long sound in standard pronunciation)

If you want a quick spelling-to-sound tip: j is like English y in yes.

Would a Croatian speaker ever use a different verb here, like šetati or prošetati?

Yes, and it changes the nuance:

hodati = to walk (general walking, neutral)
šetati = to stroll / go for a walk (often more leisurely)
prošetati (perfective) = to take a walk (often implies completing the walk as one event)

So Sutra ću malo hodati uz rijeku is very straightforward; Sutra ću malo prošetati uz rijeku can sound more like I’ll go for a short walk along the river.