Kad je pečena piletina spremna, večeramo zajedno.

Kad means when. It introduces a time clause:

• Kad je pečena piletina spremna = When the roast chicken is ready

In Croatian, kad is a very common way to introduce clauses about time. In everyday speech, it is often more common than kada, which is a slightly fuller form of the same word.

Je is the 3rd person singular present tense of biti = to be.

Here it works like is in English:

• piletina je spremna = the chicken is ready

So the first clause is built around the verb to be:

• je = is

They do two different jobs:

• pečena piletina = roast / baked chicken
  Here pečena describes what kind of chicken it is.
• spremna = ready
  This is the predicate adjective after je.

So the structure is roughly:

• pečena piletina = roast chicken
• je spremna = is ready

In other words:

• pečena belongs closely to piletina
• spremna tells you the condition of the chicken at that moment

Because they agree with piletina, which is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative here

In Croatian, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

So:

• pečen = masculine base form
• pečena = feminine singular
• spreman = masculine base form
• spremna = feminine singular

Since piletina is feminine singular, both adjectives take feminine singular forms.

No. Grammatical gender is not the same as biological sex.

Piletina is a feminine noun because that is its grammatical gender in Croatian. It usually means chicken meat or chicken as food.

So in this sentence, the feminine forms are caused by grammar, not by the actual sex of the animal.

Pečena comes from the verb peći = to bake / roast.

So pečena piletina means:

• roast chicken
• baked chicken
• more literally, roasted chicken

It is very common in Croatian to use a past passive participle like pečen / pečena / pečeno as an adjective.

Examples:

• pečeni krumpir = roasted potatoes
• kuhana riža = cooked rice
• pržena riba = fried fish

Večeramo comes from večerati = to have dinner / eat dinner.

So:

• večeramo = we have dinner
• jedemo večeru = we eat dinner

Both are possible, but večeramo is very natural and compact. Croatian often uses special verbs for meals:

• doručkovati = to have breakfast
• ručati = to have lunch
• večerati = to have dinner

So večeramo zajedno is a very normal way to say we have dinner together.

Večeramo is:

• present tense
• 1st person plural
• from the verb večerati

So it means we have dinner or we are having dinner, depending on context.

Here the subject we is built into the verb ending -mo, so Croatian does not need a separate pronoun.

Because Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form.

• večeram = I have dinner
• večeraš = you have dinner
• večeramo = we have dinner

Since večeramo already clearly means we, adding mi is usually unnecessary unless you want emphasis.

• Večeramo zajedno. = We have dinner together.
• Mi večeramo zajedno. = We have dinner together.
  This sounds more emphatic, like we as opposed to someone else.

Because the sentence starts with a subordinate clause:

• Kad je pečena piletina spremna = when the roast chicken is ready

Then comes the main clause:

• večeramo zajedno = we have dinner together

Croatian normally separates these with a comma, just like English often does when the when clause comes first.

This is very normal in Croatian.

The sentence can express a general routine or an event in the near future:

• Kad je pečena piletina spremna, večeramo zajedno.

Depending on context, it can mean something like:

• When the roast chicken is ready, we have dinner together
• When the roast chicken is ready, we’ll have dinner together

Croatian often uses the present tense after kad in time clauses, even where English might prefer a future idea.

Zajedno means together.

It is an adverb, and it describes how the action happens:

• večeramo zajedno = we have dinner together

It does not change form here.

Other examples:

• Idemo zajedno. = We are going together.
• Radimo zajedno. = We work together.

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, though not completely free.

The given sentence is very natural:

• Kad je pečena piletina spremna, večeramo zajedno.

You could also say:

• Večeramo zajedno kad je pečena piletina spremna.

That still makes sense, but it sounds a bit different in emphasis. The original version puts the time condition first, which is very natural when setting the scene.

Within the first clause, changing the order too much can make it sound less neutral or more marked, so learners should stick with the original pattern unless they have a reason to shift emphasis.

No. Croatian does not have articles like a or the.

So piletina can mean:

• chicken
• the chicken
• some chicken

The exact meaning is understood from context.

In this sentence, English usually needs the:

• When the roast chicken is ready, we have dinner together.

But Croatian simply says:

• Kad je pečena piletina spremna...

without any article.