Sutra ću napraviti rižu s tikvicom, kukuruzom i malo špinata.

Ću is the auxiliary used to form the future tense in the 1st person singular: I will.

So:

• ću napraviti = I will make / prepare
• full form with the subject would be Ja ću napraviti

In Croatian, this future is usually built with:

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

Examples:

• ću napraviti = I will make
• ćeš napraviti = you will make
• će napraviti = he/she/it will make

Croatian often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The form ću already tells you the subject is I, so ja is unnecessary unless you want emphasis.

So both are possible:

• Sutra ću napraviti... = neutral, natural
• Ja ću sutra napraviti... = I will make..., with extra emphasis on I

This is very common in Croatian.

Because ću is a clitic, and clitics in Croatian usually go in the second position of the clause.

Here the first element is Sutra = tomorrow, so ću comes immediately after it:

• Sutra ću napraviti...

This is much more natural than putting ću later.

A good rule for learners is:

• first element of the sentence
• then the clitic (ću, sam, se, etc.)

After ću, Croatian normally uses the infinitive, not a present-tense form.

So:

• ću napraviti = correct
• ću napravim = incorrect

Here:

• napraviti = infinitive, to make / to prepare
• napravim = present tense, I make / I do make

So the structure is:

• Sutra ću napraviti... = Tomorrow I will make...

Napraviti is perfective, while praviti is imperfective.

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about one completed future action: tomorrow they will prepare the dish. That is why napraviti is the natural choice.

Very roughly:

• napraviti = to make, to complete, to get done
• praviti = to be making, to make habitually, to be engaged in making

With a specific one-time plan such as tomorrow, Croatian often prefers the perfective verb.

Because rižu is the accusative singular, and the noun is the direct object of the verb napraviti.

The base form is:

• riža = rice

But as a direct object, it changes to:

• rižu

This is a very common pattern for feminine nouns ending in -a:

• žena → ženu
• kava → kavu
• riža → rižu

Because the preposition s meaning with takes the instrumental case.

So:

• tikvica → tikvicom
• kukuruz → kukuruzom

That is why the ingredients after s change form.

You can think of it as:

• riža s tikvicom = rice with zucchini
• riža s kukuruzom = rice with corn

Yes, it could be plural, but the singular is perfectly natural here.

In Croatian, ingredients are often mentioned in the singular when talking about a dish in a general way:

• s tikvicom = with zucchini
• s rajčicom = with tomato
• s mrkvom = with carrot

If you said s tikvicama, that would mean with zucchinis / with pieces of zucchini and sounds a bit more specific. The singular is very normal for recipe-style language.

Because malo is a quantity word, and after words like malo, the following noun usually goes into the genitive.

So:

• špinat = spinach
• malo špinata = a little spinach

This is similar to other quantity expressions:

• puno vode = a lot of water
• malo šećera = a little sugar
• nekoliko ljudi = several people

So the important pattern is:

• malo + genitive

Because špinata is controlled by malo, not directly by s.

The whole phrase is:

• s malo špinata = with a little spinach

Inside that phrase, malo requires the noun after it to be in the genitive:

• malo špinata

So even though the full ingredient phrase follows s, the noun špinata stays genitive because of malo.

This is a pattern learners see a lot with quantity expressions.

Both s and sa mean with. Sa is used mainly when pronunciation is easier that way, especially before certain consonant combinations.

For example:

• sa mnom = with me
• sa sobom = with oneself

But here:

• s tikvicom
• s kukuruzom

are completely normal and natural.

So in this sentence, s is the standard choice.

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, and changing it usually changes the focus or emphasis, not the core meaning.

For example:

• Sutra ću napraviti rižu... = neutral
• Rižu ću sutra napraviti... = emphasis on rice
• Napravit ću sutra rižu... = also possible, with a different rhythm

One important thing to remember is that ću still behaves like a clitic and wants to stay near the beginning of the clause.

Also note this spelling point:

• after another word: ću napraviti
• if the infinitive comes before ću: napravit ću

So not napraviti ću, but napravit ću.

Both can be natural, but they emphasize slightly different things.

• napraviti rižu = make / prepare rice, a bit broader
• skuhati rižu = cook rice, more specifically focused on the cooking itself

In this sentence, because the speaker is talking about a rice dish with other ingredients, napraviti sounds very natural: it suggests preparing the whole dish.

If you wanted to focus more specifically on cooking the rice, you could also say:

• Sutra ću skuhati rižu s tikvicom, kukuruzom i malo špinata.

Because Croatian does not have articles.

English needs words like:

• a
• the

Croatian usually does not. The meaning is understood from context.

So rižu can mean:

• rice
• the rice
• some rice

depending on the situation.

This is one of the biggest differences from English.

A few useful ones here are:

• š as in English sh
  • špinata
• ž like the sound in measure
  • rižu
• ć is a soft Croatian sound with no exact English equivalent, but you can approximate it as a very soft ty
  • ću

A rough learner-friendly pronunciation might be:

• Sutra ≈ SOO-tra
• ću ≈ tyoo but softer
• rižu ≈ REE-zhu
• špinata ≈ shpee-NA-ta

These are only approximations, but they are a helpful start.