Ako želiš citirati njegove riječi, stavi ih u navodnike.

Ako means if.

The sentence has two parts:

• Ako želiš citirati njegove riječi = If you want to quote his words
• stavi ih u navodnike = put them in quotation marks

In Croatian, when a sentence begins with an ako clause, it is normally separated from the main clause with a comma, just like in English:

• Ako želiš..., stavi...
• If you want..., put...

This is very similar to English want to quote.

• želiš = you want
• citirati = to quote

So želiš citirati literally means you want to quote.

Croatian often uses a finite verb plus an infinitive in this pattern:

• želim jesti = I want to eat
• želiš učiti = you want to study
• žele doći = they want to come

Because Croatian usually leaves the subject pronoun out when it is already clear from the verb ending.

• želiš already tells you the subject is you singular
• stavi is also a singular command, again showing you

So Croatian does not need ti here.

You could say Ako ti želiš..., but that would add emphasis, like if you specifically want...

Želiš is the 2nd person singular present tense of željeti = to want.

So:

• želim = I want
• želiš = you want
• želi = he/she/it wants

The ending -š is a very common sign of you singular in Croatian present tense.

Because njegove riječi means his words, and this phrase is the direct object of citirati.

• njegove = his
• riječi = words

The adjective/pronoun njegove agrees with riječi in gender, number, and case.

Here the phrase is in the accusative plural, because it is the thing being quoted.

A useful detail: with this noun, riječi looks the same in nominative plural and accusative plural, so the form does not change visibly here.

In this sentence, riječi literally means words, and that is a very natural choice in Croatian.

So citirati njegove riječi is a normal way to say quote his words.

Croatian can also express the idea differently depending on style and context, but njegove riječi is straightforward and idiomatic here.

Stavi is the imperative (command form) of staviti = to put / to place.

Here it means:

• stavi ih u navodnike = put them in quotation marks

It is a command addressed to one person.

Compare:

• stavi! = put! (to one person)
• stavite! = put! (to more than one person, or formal singular)

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

• staviti is perfective: it focuses on completing the action
• stavljati is imperfective: it focuses on the process or repeated action

In this sentence, the speaker means do this once / make sure you do it: put the words in quotation marks. Because of that, stavi is the natural choice.

So:

• stavi ih u navodnike = put them in quotation marks
• stavljaj ih u navodnike would sound more like keep putting them in quotation marks / do it habitually, which is not the point here

Ih means them.

It refers back to njegove riječi = his words.

So the second clause literally says:

• stavi ih u navodnike = put them in quotation marks

Croatian often avoids repeating the noun if it is already clear.

Because ih is a clitic. Clitics are short unstressed words that usually appear in a fixed position, very early in the clause.

In a simple command like this, the pattern is natural:

• Stavi ih u navodnike.

You normally would not place ih at the end.

For English speakers, it helps to think of clitics as words that do not like standing alone and want to stay close to the beginning of the clause.

Navodnici means quotation marks.

The phrase staviti u navodnike is an idiomatic expression meaning to put in quotation marks.

Here we get u navodnike because the idea is directional: put into quotation marks. With that kind of meaning, Croatian often uses u + accusative.

Compare the basic contrast:

• u navodnike = into quotation marks
• u navodnicima = in quotation marks

So after stavi, the accusative form navodnike is the natural one.

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English, but not every version sounds equally natural.

The original sentence is very normal:

• Ako želiš citirati njegove riječi, stavi ih u navodnike.

You could also hear variations for emphasis, but the clitic ih still has to stay in its usual position.

For learners, the safest choice is to keep the original order unless you have a reason to emphasize something.

These are common Croatian sounds:

• ž as in the middle sound of measure
• š as in sh in ship
• č roughly like ch in church, but usually a bit harder and crisper

So:

• želiš sounds roughly like zhe-lish
• riječi sounds roughly like ree-yeh-chee

English does not match these sounds perfectly, but those approximations are useful to start with.