U retrovizoru vidim da auto iza nas vozi prebrzo.

It means in the rear-view mirror.

The preposition u can take:

• the locative case when it means location: in, inside
• the accusative case when it means movement into somewhere

Here there is no movement, just location, so we use u + locative.

Base noun: retrovizor
Locative singular: retrovizoru

So:

• u retrovizor would suggest movement into the mirror, which makes no sense here
• u retrovizoru = in the mirror / in the rear-view mirror

Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here:

• vidim = I see

So ja is not needed. You could say Ja vidim..., but that usually adds emphasis, contrast, or emotion.

For example:

• Vidim... = normal, neutral
• Ja vidim... = I see..., maybe implying someone else does not

Because da introduces a full clause, similar to English that.

So:

• vidim da auto... = I see that the car...

This is a very common structure after verbs like:

• vidim = I see
• znam = I know
• mislim = I think
• čujem = I hear

Croatian usually prefers a full finite clause here rather than an English-style infinitive structure.

In Croatian, a clause introduced by da after verbs like vidjeti, misliti, znati, čuti usually does not take a comma when it functions as the direct object of the verb.

So these are normal:

• Vidim da...
• Mislim da...
• Znam da...

That is different from what some English speakers expect, because English punctuation habits do not match Croatian punctuation exactly.

Both are correct, but auto is the more common everyday word.

• auto = car, very common in speech
• automobil = more formal or more full-length

In this sentence, auto is the subject:

• auto vozi prebrzo = the car is driving / going too fast

Also, Croatian has no articles, so auto can mean a car or the car, depending on context.

Croatian has no articles, so there is no separate word for a or the.

You understand it from context.

Here, the sentence is talking about a specific car that the speaker can see behind them, so English naturally translates it as the car behind us.

So:

• auto can mean a car
• auto can also mean the car

Context decides.

Iza means behind, and here it is followed by the genitive case.

The pronoun mi = we has the form nas in the genitive (and also accusative).

So:

• iza nas = behind us

This is a very common pattern:

• iza kuće = behind the house
• iza mene = behind me
• iza nas = behind us

It describes the car.

So the structure is:

• auto iza nas = the car behind us
• vozi prebrzo = is driving too fast

In other words, the sentence means:

• I can see in the rear-view mirror that the car behind us is driving too fast

Placing iza nas right after auto makes that connection very clear.

It can mean either one in form, because Croatian does not have a separate tense like the English present continuous.

So Croatian present tense often covers both:

• drives
• is driving

Here, from the context, vozi clearly means:

• is driving
• or more naturally in this situation, is going

So:

• auto vozi prebrzo = the car is driving / going too fast

Because Croatian does not build the present continuous the way English does.

English:

• is driving

Croatian:

• just the present tense verb: vozi

So one word, vozi, can correspond to:

• drives
• is driving

That is very normal in Croatian.

Prebrzo means too fast.

It is built from:

• brzo = fast, quickly
• prefix pre- = too, excessively

So:

• brzo = fast
• prebrzo = too fast

This pattern is very common:

• preskupo = too expensive
• prekasno = too late
• previše = too much
• prebrzo = too fast

Yes, you could, but prebrzo is more compact and very natural here.

Compare:

• vozi prebrzo = drives too fast
• vozi previše brzo = drives too fast

Both are understandable, but prebrzo is the simpler, more idiomatic choice in this sentence.

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible.

This sentence starts with U retrovizoru to set the scene first:

• In the rear-view mirror, I see...

You could also say:

• Vidim u retrovizoru da auto iza nas vozi prebrzo.

That is also correct.

The original version feels natural because it first tells you where the speaker is looking, and then what they notice.

Usually not as well in this sentence.

• vozi here means the car is moving/driving
• vozi se often suggests is riding, is travelling, or is being driven

So:

• Auto iza nas vozi prebrzo = the car behind us is going too fast

If you said vozi se, the meaning would shift and sound less direct for this situation.

More or less, yes. A fairly literal breakdown is:

• U retrovizoru = in the rear-view mirror
• vidim = I see
• da = that
• auto = car / the car
• iza nas = behind us
• vozi = drives / is driving
• prebrzo = too fast

But in natural English, the best translation is usually:

• In the rear-view mirror, I can see that the car behind us is driving too fast.

That sounds more natural than a word-for-word translation.