Galeb leti iznad valova i spušta se gotovo do mora.

A natural breakdown is:

• galeb = seagull
• leti = flies
• iznad = above / over
• valova = waves (in the genitive plural)
• i = and
• spušta se = descends / lowers itself / comes down
• gotovo = almost
• do = to / as far as
• mora = the sea (in the genitive singular)

So the structure is roughly:

Seagull flies above the waves and descends almost to the sea.

More natural English would often be:

A seagull flies above the waves and comes down almost to the surface of the sea.

Because iznad requires the genitive case.

The basic noun is:

• val = wave

Its plural nominative is:

• valovi = waves

But after iznad (above), Croatian uses the genitive, so you get:

• iznad valova = above the waves

This is a very common pattern:

• iznad kuće = above the house
• iznad grada = above the city
• iznad valova = above the waves

So valovi would be the subject form, but after iznad you need valova.

For the same reason: do also requires the genitive case.

The noun is:

• more = sea

After do (to / up to / as far as), it changes to genitive:

• do mora = to the sea / down to the sea

So:

• more = nominative
• mora = genitive

Examples:

• Idem do kuće. = I’m going as far as the house.
• Došao je do rijeke. = He came up to the river.
• spušta se do mora = it descends to the sea

Spuštati se / spustiti se means to go down, to descend, to lower oneself, or to come down.

The se is a reflexive particle. In many Croatian verbs, it is part of the normal form of the verb and does not always translate as a literal English self.

So:

• spušta = lowers something / brings something down
• spušta se = goes down / descends

Compare:

• Spušta avion. = He is lowering the airplane / bringing the airplane down.
• Avion se spušta. = The airplane is descending.

In your sentence, the seagull is itself moving downward, so spušta se is the correct form.

Yes, leti is present tense, third person singular, from letjeti (to fly).

It can mean either:

• flies (general or habitual present)
• is flying (what is happening now)

Croatian present tense often covers both meanings, depending on context.

So this sentence could describe:

• a general image: A seagull flies above the waves...
• a scene happening right now: A seagull is flying above the waves...

English chooses between simple present and present continuous more strictly than Croatian does.

Both take the genitive in this sentence.

• iznad + genitive
• do + genitive

That is why you get:

• iznad valova
• do mora

This is worth memorizing as a pattern, because prepositions in Croatian are strongly linked to specific cases.

Because Croatian has no articles.

English uses:

• a seagull
• the waves
• the sea

Croatian simply says:

• galeb
• valova
• mora

Whether something is a, the, or just general is understood from context.

So Galeb can mean:

• a seagull
• the seagull

depending on the situation.

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order, although the original sentence is the most neutral and natural here.

Original:

• Galeb leti iznad valova i spušta se gotovo do mora.

You could also hear variations like:

• Iznad valova galeb leti i spušta se gotovo do mora.
• Galeb se spušta gotovo do mora i leti iznad valova.

But changing the order can change the focus, style, or rhythm.

For a learner, the original order is the best one to use: subject + verb + prepositional phrase + i + verb phrase

Gotovo means almost.

Here it modifies the phrase do mora, so:

• gotovo do mora = almost to the sea

The idea is that the seagull comes very close to the water, but not completely down to it.

Compare:

• do mora = to the sea
• gotovo do mora = almost to the sea

So gotovo adds the nuance nearly, but not quite.

Galeb is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative in this sentence

It is the subject of the sentence, so it stays in the nominative form.

That is why the verbs are also in third person singular:

• leti
• spušta se

If the subject were plural, the verbs would change too:

• Galebovi lete iznad valova i spuštaju se gotovo do mora.
• Seagulls fly above the waves and descend almost to the sea.

Yes, i here simply means and.

It joins two actions of the same subject:

• leti = flies
• spušta se = descends

So the sentence describes one seagull doing two things:

1. flying above the waves
2. descending almost to the sea

In Croatian, this is very straightforward, just like English and.

Not exactly.

• iznad valova = above the waves
• preko valova can mean across the waves, over the waves, or movement from one side to another

In your sentence, iznad is better because it clearly describes vertical position: the seagull is flying above the waves.

So:

• iznad = above, higher than
• preko = over/across, often with movement across a surface or area

Both are imperfective forms.

• letjeti = to fly, imperfective
• spuštati se = to be descending / to go down, imperfective

That makes sense because the sentence describes an ongoing scene, not a single completed action.

If you used perfective verbs, the feeling would be more like a completed event:

• sletio je = he landed
• spustio se = he descended / came down completely

But here the image is continuous and descriptive, so the imperfective forms are natural.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide:

• Galeb ≈ GAH-leb
• leti ≈ LEH-tee
• iznad ≈ EEZ-nad
• valova ≈ VAH-loh-va
• i = ee
• spušta se ≈ SPOOSH-ta seh
• gotovo ≈ GOH-toh-voh
• do = doh
• mora ≈ MOH-ra

A few helpful sounds:

• c = ts
• č = ch in church
• ć = a softer Croatian ch sound
• š = sh
• ž = s in measure

So spušta contains š, which sounds like sh.

Yes. That is exactly how many speakers would understand it.

Literally, do mora means to the sea, but in this kind of visual description it often means down toward the sea / down near the sea’s surface.

So the sentence paints the picture of a seagull that dips very low over the water.

In natural English, that is why someone might translate it more freely as:

• A seagull flies above the waves and dips almost to the surface of the sea.

That is not a word-for-word translation, but it captures the image well.