Danas ih zalijeva rano ujutro, prije nego što sunce postane prejako.

Ih means them.

It is the accusative plural form of the third-person pronoun, used for a direct object. In this sentence, it refers to whatever is being watered, for example plants, flowers, or vegetables.

So:

• zalijeva ih = waters them

Croatian often uses short unstressed pronouns like ih instead of repeating the noun.

Because ih is a clitic: a short unstressed word that usually appears near the beginning of the clause, typically in the second position.

So Croatian prefers:

• Danas ih zalijeva...

rather than:

• Danas zalijeva ih... (not natural)

This word order is very common with short pronouns such as:

• ga = him/it
• je = her/it
• ih = them
• mu = to him
• im = to them

For English speakers, this can feel unusual, because English puts object pronouns after the verb, but Croatian often pulls these short forms forward.

Zalijeva is present tense, third person singular, from zalijevati / zaliti.

Here it means something like:

• he/she waters them
• he/she is watering them
• depending on context, even today he/she waters them

Croatian present tense is often broader than English. It can describe:

• a habitual action
• an action happening now
• a planned or contextually current action

Because the sentence starts with Danas (today), the present tense is understood in that time frame.

The subject is not stated explicitly, because Croatian often omits subject pronouns when the verb form already shows the person and number.

Zalijeva tells us it is third person singular, so the subject is:

• he
• she
• or sometimes it, depending on context

Croatian does this all the time:

• Radim = I work / I am working
• Radiš = you work
• Radi = he/she works

So the sentence does not need on or ona unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Danas means today.

It sets the time frame for the whole sentence:

• Danas ih zalijeva... = Today, he/she waters them...

Putting Danas first is very natural, especially when the speaker wants to foreground when the action happens.

Croatian word order is flexible, so you could also see other arrangements, but this version sounds normal and clear.

Ujutro means in the morning.

Rano ujutro means early in the morning.

So rano adds extra information about time:

• ujutro = in the morning
• rano ujutro = early in the morning

This is a very common expression in Croatian.

Prije nego što is a standard way to say before when it is followed by a whole clause.

Here it introduces the clause:

• sunce postane prejako = the sun becomes too strong

So:

• prije nego što sunce postane prejako = before the sun becomes too strong

Croatian can use prije by itself in some situations, but when you have a full verb clause after it, prije nego što is very common and natural.

Literally, it is something like:

• prije = before
• nego = than
• što = that / what

But you should treat prije nego što as a fixed expression meaning:

• before

It does not help much to translate each word separately in normal usage. The important thing is recognizing the whole phrase as a conjunction introducing a subordinate clause.

This is a very important point.

Postane is the present tense of the perfective verb postati.
Postaje is the present tense of the imperfective verb postajati.

In Croatian, after expressions like prije nego što, a perfective present is often used to refer to a future completed change:

• prije nego što sunce postane prejako
  = before the sun gets/becomes too strong

That sounds natural because the focus is on the moment of change: the sun becomes too strong.

If you used postaje, it would suggest a more ongoing process and would usually sound less natural here.

So postane is used because the speaker means:

• water them before the sun reaches that too-strong state

Yes. Grammatically, it is present tense, but in Croatian the present tense of a perfective verb often refers to a future event, especially in subordinate clauses.

So in:

• prije nego što sunce postane prejako

the verb form is present, but the meaning is:

• before the sun becomes / gets too strong

This is normal Croatian usage and is something English speakers often need time to get used to.

Because sunce is a neuter singular noun, and the adjective must agree with it.

• sunce = neuter singular
• prejako = neuter singular form of prejak = too strong / too intense

So:

• sunce postane prejako = the sun becomes too strong

This is adjective agreement, not an adverb.

Compare:

• jak vjetar = strong wind (masculine)
• jaka kiša = strong rain (feminine)
• jako sunce = strong sun (neuter)

It means too strong, not just very strong.

The prefix pre- often adds the idea of excess, like too much.

So:

• jako = strong
• prejako = too strong / excessively strong

Here it means the sun is so strong that it would be bad to water them later.

Sunce is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the verb postane.

In the clause:

• sunce postane prejako

the structure is:

• sunce = subject
• postane = becomes
• prejako = predicate adjective agreeing with the subject

It can depend on context.

By itself, Danas points to today, so the sentence most naturally refers to today’s action:

• Today he/she waters them early in the morning...

But Croatian present tense can also sound fairly general, especially if the wider context is about routine. For example, if someone is describing a daily gardening plan, it could still feel natural.

The strongest cue here is Danas, which makes the sentence sound tied to a specific day.

It is related to the verb pair:

• zaliti = perfective
• zalijevati = imperfective

The form zalijeva is the present tense of the imperfective verb.

That makes sense here, because a true present meaning usually uses the imperfective verb. Croatian perfective verbs generally do not express an ongoing present action in the same way.

So:

• zalijeva = is watering / waters

Because Croatian has no articles like the or a/an.

So sunce can mean:

• the sun
• in some contexts just sun

English requires an article here, but Croatian does not.

That is completely normal:

• Vidim kuću = I see a/the house
• Sunce sija = The sun is shining

The exact English article depends on context, not on a separate Croatian word.

In some varieties and in more informal speech, you may hear shorter versions, but prije nego što is the standard and safest form for learners.

So the best form to learn is:

• prije nego što sunce postane prejako

If you are aiming for clear standard Croatian, keep što.

You could add on or ona if you wanted to make the subject clear or emphasize it:

• Danas ih on zalijeva rano ujutro, prije nego što sunce postane prejako.
• Danas ih ona zalijeva rano ujutro, prije nego što sunce postane prejako.

But in normal Croatian, this is often unnecessary because zalijeva already tells you it is third person singular.

Adding the pronoun can sound emphatic, as if you are contrasting that person with someone else.