Za ručak ću skuhati gljive, grašak i malo riže.

Za ručak means for lunch.

In Croatian, it is very common to put time expressions or context-setting phrases near the beginning of the sentence. So Za ručak tells you right away what occasion the food is for.

Literally, za often means for, and ručak means lunch.

You could also change the word order, for example:

• Ću skuhati gljive, grašak i malo riže za ručak — not the most natural because ću usually does not stand first
• Gljive, grašak i malo riže ću skuhati za ručak
• Za ručak ću skuhati gljive, grašak i malo riže

The original sentence sounds natural and neutral.

Ću means I will. It is the 1st person singular form of the auxiliary used to make the future tense.

Croatian future is often formed with:

• a form of htjeti used as an auxiliary
• plus the infinitive

So:

• ću skuhati = I will cook

A very important point is that ću is a clitic, which means it usually comes in the second position in the sentence or clause.

That is why you get:

• Za ručak ću skuhati...

and not normally:

• Za ručak skuhati ću...

You may also see the future written attached to a shortened infinitive in some word orders, for example:

• Skuhat ću gljive...

That is also correct and very common in everyday Croatian.

This is about aspect, which is very important in Croatian verbs.

• kuhati = to cook, to be cooking → imperfective
• skuhati = to cook completely, to cook and finish → perfective

In a sentence like this, the speaker means a completed future action: I will cook the food, meaning the cooking will be done. Because of that, skuhati is the natural choice.

So:

• ću kuhati can suggest the process or repeated activity
• ću skuhati suggests one completed result

In this sentence, skuhati is exactly what you would expect.

Because ću is a clitic, it usually comes in the second position of the sentence or clause.

So after the opening phrase Za ručak, the clitic ću comes next:

• Za ručak ću skuhati...

But if the infinitive comes first, then Croatian often uses the shortened infinitive form:

• Skuhat ću gljive, grašak i malo riže.

So both patterns are normal:

• Za ručak ću skuhati...
• Skuhat ću...

What is usually not preferred is:

• Za ručak skuhati ću...

They are the direct objects of the verb skuhati, so they are in the accusative case.

The verb skuhati answers the question what will I cook?

• gljive
• grašak
• malo riže

Now the forms:

• gljive is plural, and for this noun the nominative plural and accusative plural are the same
• grašak is masculine singular inanimate, and for masculine inanimate nouns, nominative and accusative singular are usually the same

So:

• gljive looks unchanged
• grašak also looks unchanged

Even though the forms look like dictionary forms, their role here is accusative.

Because malo meaning a little, a small amount of requires the genitive case.

So:

• malo vode = a little water
• malo kruha = a little bread
• malo riže = a little rice

The noun riža is an uncountable or mass noun here, so after malo, Croatian uses the genitive singular:

• nominative: riža
• genitive: riže

That is why the sentence has malo riže.

In Croatian, riža is treated as a mass noun, like water or sugar in English. After quantity words like malo, Croatian usually uses the genitive singular for mass nouns.

So malo riže literally means something like a little of rice, which is why the genitive appears.

This is very normal Croatian grammar, not a special exception.

Yes, gljive is plural here, so it means mushrooms.

If you wanted to say a mushroom in the singular, you would use:

• gljivu in the accusative singular

Compare:

• skuhati gljivu = to cook a mushroom
• skuhati gljive = to cook mushrooms

So in your sentence, the speaker is clearly talking about more than one mushroom.

Croatian often uses grašak as a mass or collective food word, where English commonly uses the plural peas.

So:

• grašak = peas / pea dish / pea vegetable in a general sense

This is very natural in Croatian. You do not need to force a plural just because English uses one.

If you were talking about individual peas in a very literal way, there are other ways to express that, but in food contexts grašak is the normal word.

Yes, it sounds natural.

The list is simply joined with i = and:

• gljive, grašak i malo riže

This is the normal way to list items in Croatian, just like in English.

There is nothing unusual about the punctuation or coordination here.

Yes. Croatian has no articles, so there is no direct equivalent of English a, an, or the.

That means a sentence like this can naturally mean:

• I will cook mushrooms, peas, and a little rice for lunch
• or, depending on context, the mushrooms, the peas, etc.

The exact meaning depends on the situation, not on an article.

So the absence of an article is completely normal.

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order, although not completely free.

For example, you could also say:

• Skuhat ću gljive, grašak i malo riže za ručak.
• Gljive, grašak i malo riže ću skuhati za ručak.

These all mean basically the same thing, but the emphasis changes a little.

The original sentence is a very neutral, natural way to say it because it starts with the context for lunch, then gives the future verb, then the food items.

A simple breakdown is:

• Za ručak = time/purpose phrase, for lunch
• ću skuhati = future verb phrase, I will cook
• gljive, grašak i malo riže = direct objects, mushrooms, peas, and a little rice

So the overall structure is:

For lunch + I will cook + the foods

This is a very useful model for making your own sentences, for example:

• Za večeru ću skuhati juhu. = For dinner I will cook soup.
• Za doručak ću napraviti jaja. = For breakfast I will make eggs.