Kad je grah gotov, večeramo zajedno.

Yes. Kad means when, and it is a very common shorter form of kada.

• kad = shorter, very common in everyday language
• kada = longer, a bit more formal or careful

So Kad je grah gotov, večeramo zajedno. and Kada je grah gotov, večeramo zajedno. both work.

Because je is a clitic in Croatian. Clitics are short unstressed words that usually go in the second position in their clause.

The basic statement is:

• Grah je gotov. = The beans / bean stew are ready.

But when you begin the clause with kad, the clitic je moves right after it:

• Kad je grah gotov...

So this word order is very normal and important to get used to.

In Croatian, grah is a singular noun, but it can refer to:

• beans as a food in general
• bean stew / bean dish, which is a very common meaning in everyday Croatian

So even though English often uses the plural beans, Croatian uses singular grah.

Because gotov has to agree with grah.

• grah is masculine singular
• so the adjective also has to be masculine singular: gotov

Compare:

• grah je gotov = masculine
• juha je gotova = feminine
• jelo je gotovo = neuter

This is basic adjective agreement in Croatian.

Here gotov means something like:

• ready
• done
• finished cooking

With food, it usually means the food is ready to eat.

So grah je gotov means the bean dish is finished cooking and ready.

A similar word you may also hear is skuhan = cooked / boiled, but gotov is broader and often more natural in this kind of sentence.

Večeramo means we have dinner or we eat dinner.

It comes from the verb večerati = to have dinner / to eat supper.

This form is:

• 1st person plural
• present tense

So:

• ja večeram = I have dinner
• ti večeraš = you have dinner
• mi večeramo = we have dinner

Because Croatian usually does not need subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the subject.

Here, -mo in večeramo already tells you it means we.

So:

• Večeramo zajedno. = We eat dinner together.

You could say Mi večeramo zajedno, but mi would usually add emphasis, for example:

• Mi večeramo zajedno, a oni kasnije. = We eat dinner together, and they eat later.

Because the sentence begins with a dependent time clause:

• Kad je grah gotov = When the bean dish is ready

Then comes the main clause:

• večeramo zajedno = we have dinner together

When this kind of clause comes first, Croatian uses a comma:

• Kad je grah gotov, večeramo zajedno.

If you reverse the order, the comma is usually not used:

• Večeramo zajedno kad je grah gotov.

It can often cover both, depending on context.

Croatian present tense is commonly used for:

• habits or repeated actions
• general truths
• near-future situations

So this sentence can mean:

• Whenever the bean dish is ready, we have dinner together.
• or When the bean dish is ready, we’ll have dinner together.

The exact meaning depends on the situation.

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but not completely free.

For example, you can also say:

• Večeramo zajedno kad je grah gotov.

This is also natural.

You may also hear slightly different emphasis patterns, but you still have to respect clitic placement, especially with je.

So the main thing is:

• word order can shift for focus or style
• but little words like je still follow clitic rules

Because Croatian has no articles like a or the.

So grah can mean:

• beans
• the beans
• bean stew
• the bean stew

The exact meaning is understood from context.

If Croatian wants to be more specific, it can use other words such as:

• taj grah = that bean dish
• ovaj grah = this bean dish

But in a normal sentence like this, no article is needed.

Zajedno means together.

It is an adverb, and here it tells you how the action happens:

• večeramo zajedno = we have dinner together

Its position is quite natural here, after the verb, though Croatian can sometimes move adverbs around for emphasis.