Jedan kotač izgleda malo čudno, pa ćemo stati prije grada i pogledati ga.

Literally, jedan means one. But in Croatian it is also often used where English would simply use a/an.

So Jedan kotač... can mean:

• One wheel... if you want to stress that one out of several wheels is the problem
• A wheel... in a more article-like way

Here it naturally suggests one of the wheels.

It is jedan because kotač is a masculine singular noun. Compare:

• jedan kotač — masculine
• jedna kuća — feminine
• jedno selo — neuter

Kotač is in the nominative singular.

Why? Because it is the subject of the verb izgleda:

• Jedan kotač izgleda...
• One wheel looks...

The nominative is the basic dictionary form of the noun, and that is what you see here.

Because after izgledati, Croatian very often uses the adverbial/neuter predicative form like čudno to describe how something appears overall.

So:

• izgleda čudno = it looks strange / it looks odd

This is very natural and idiomatic.

You may also encounter agreeing adjective forms like čudan, but they can sound slightly different in nuance, more like directly labeling the thing as a strange one. In this sentence, čudno is the most natural choice for describing appearance.

Here malo means a little or slightly, not small.

It modifies čudno:

• malo čudno = a little strange
• slightly odd

So it is not saying the wheel is small. It is softening the description.

Here pa means something like:

• so
• so then
• and so
• therefore

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• One wheel looks a little strange, so we’ll stop...

It is a very common, natural connector in spoken and written Croatian.

Ćemo is part of the Croatian future tense.

Croatian future I is formed with:

• a present-tense form of htjeti (ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će)
• plus an infinitive

So:

• ćemo stati = we will stop

In this sentence, ćemo is an enclitic, which means it normally comes in the second position in its clause. Since the new clause begins with pa, the auxiliary comes right after it:

• pa ćemo stati

That is why you do not get pa stati ćemo here.

Because stati is the normal verb for to stop in the sense of come to a stop or stop once.

By contrast, stajati much more often means:

• to stand
• to be standing

So in this sentence:

• stati = stop the vehicle / come to a stop

That is exactly the meaning needed here.

This is about aspect.

• pogledati is perfective
• gledati is imperfective

Here, pogledati means take a look, a single completed action.

So:

• pogledati ga = look at it / have a look at it

If you used gledati, it would sound more like watching or looking for a while, which is not the idea here. The sentence is about a quick practical action: stop and check the wheel.

Because one future auxiliary can govern two coordinated infinitives.

So:

• ćemo stati i pogledati ga

means:

• we will stop and look at it

Croatian does not need to repeat ćemo before the second infinitive when both verbs belong to the same future action sequence.

Grada is genitive singular of grad.

That happens because prije requires the genitive:

• prije + genitive

So:

• grad → grada

In this sentence, prije grada means before the town/city, in the sense of before reaching it.

Also, grad can mean either town or city, depending on context.

A useful nuance:

• prije grada = before reaching the town/city
• ispred grada = in front of the town/city

Here it is being used spatially, not temporally.

Very often learners first meet prije as before in time:

• prije ručka — before lunch

But it can also mean before in the sense of earlier along a route:

• stati prije grada — stop before the town

So here it means before we get to the town/city.

Ga is the short accusative pronoun here, meaning it.

It refers back to kotač:

• pogledati ga = look at it

Why ga?

• kotač is masculine singular
• the wheel is the direct object of pogledati
• so Croatian uses the masculine singular accusative pronoun

A useful point for English speakers: Croatian pronouns follow grammatical gender, not natural gender. So even though English says it, Croatian uses a masculine pronoun here because kotač is a masculine noun.

Because ga is the normal short, unstressed form.

• ga = neutral, everyday it/him
• njega = full, stressed form, usually used for emphasis, contrast, or after certain prepositions

So in a neutral sentence, pogledati ga is the natural choice.

Using njega here would sound more emphatic, as if you were specially contrasting that wheel with something else.

They are different sounds in standard Croatian.

In this sentence:

• č appears in kotač and čudno
• ć appears in ćemo

A rough guide:

• č is a harder sound, roughly like ch in chop
• ć is softer, with no exact English equivalent; it is somewhat like a very soft ty/ch sound

So:

• č = harder
• ć = softer

Many learners find this contrast difficult at first, so it is worth listening carefully to native pronunciation.