Ako najave nevrijeme, odgodit ćemo roštilj i ostati kod kuće.

Because after ako (if), Croatian normally does not use the future tense the way English learners might expect.

Here, najave is the present tense form of the perfective verb najaviti (to announce). In Croatian, this is very common for future conditions:

• Ako najave nevrijeme... = If they announce bad weather...

So even though the form is present, the meaning is future because the whole clause is conditional.

A learner might expect something like Ako će najaviti..., but that is not the normal choice here.

Najave is:

• 3rd person plural
• present tense
• from the verb najaviti (to announce)

So literally it means they announce, but in this sentence it is understood as if they announce / if they do announce in the future.

It is also worth noticing that najaviti is perfective, which fits well here because the sentence refers to one complete event: the announcement being made.

Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

So:

• najave already tells you it is they
• odgodit ćemo already tells you it is we

The sentence could include pronouns for emphasis:

• Ako oni najave nevrijeme, mi ćemo odgoditi roštilj...

But that would usually sound more emphatic than necessary. In normal Croatian, the pronouns are often omitted.

Nevrijeme usually means bad weather, stormy weather, or even a storm / severe weather, depending on context.

It is often a bit stronger than just loše vrijeme (bad weather).
So in this sentence, it suggests weather serious enough to cancel outdoor plans.

Grammatically, nevrijeme is a neuter singular noun. Here it is the direct object of najave, but its form stays nevrijeme because the accusative is the same as the nominative for this noun.

This is a standard feature of the Croatian future tense.

The infinitive is odgoditi.
When the future auxiliary comes after an infinitive ending in -ti, the final -i is dropped:

• odgoditi + ćemo → odgodit ćemo

So odgodit ćemo is the standard written form.

Compare:

• Mi ćemo odgoditi roštilj.
• Odgodit ćemo roštilj.

Both mean We will postpone the barbecue, but the form changes depending on where ćemo is placed.

Because the future auxiliary ćemo is already being used with the first verb, and it also applies to the second verb:

• odgodit ćemo roštilj i ostati kod kuće

This means:

• we will postpone the barbecue and stay at home

Croatian often avoids repeating the auxiliary when two infinitives are coordinated with i (and).

You could also say:

• odgodit ćemo roštilj i ostat ćemo kod kuće

That is also possible, but the original version is more compact.

Notice the difference:

• with the auxiliary attached after it: ostat ćemo
• without the auxiliary repeated: ostati

Roštilj can mean:

• a grill
• barbecue food
• a barbecue / barbecue gathering

In this sentence, it most naturally means the barbecue event/plan, not just the physical grill itself.

So odgodit ćemo roštilj means we’ll postpone the barbecue.

Also, roštilj is masculine, and here it is the direct object. Since it is inanimate, the accusative form is the same as the nominative:

• roštilj

Kod kuće is a very common Croatian expression meaning at home.

Here:

• kod is a preposition
• kuće is genitive singular of kuća (house)

So literally it looks like at/by the house, but the whole phrase is idiomatic and simply means at home.

Compare:

• kod kuće = at home
• u kući = in the house (physically inside the building)

So ostati kod kuće means to stay at home, not just to remain inside the house in a purely physical sense.

Because Ako najave nevrijeme is a subordinate conditional clause, and it is separated from the main clause by a comma.

Structure:

• Ako najave nevrijeme, = conditional clause
• odgodit ćemo roštilj i ostati kod kuće. = main clause

This is similar to English, where we also normally use a comma when the if-clause comes first:

• If they announce bad weather, we’ll postpone the barbecue...

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

For example, you could also say:

• Ako najave nevrijeme, roštilj ćemo odgoditi i ostati kod kuće.

That puts more focus on roštilj.

However, clitics like ćemo have placement rules, so you cannot move words around completely at random. Croatian often keeps ćemo in the second position area of its clause.

So word order can change for emphasis, but the grammar still has to be respected.

Yes, aspect matters a lot in Croatian.

The verbs here are naturally understood as complete, one-time actions:

• najaviti = to announce
• odgoditi = to postpone
• ostati = to stay/remain

That fits the meaning of the sentence: one possible future situation and the actions that follow from it.

If you used imperfective verbs instead, the meaning would shift toward process, repetition, or ongoing action, which would not fit as well here.

So the aspect helps express:

• a single future announcement
• a single decision to postpone
• a resulting action of staying home

Normally, no.

After ako, Croatian usually uses the present tense, not the future tense, when talking about a future condition.

So the natural sentence is:

• Ako najave nevrijeme...

not:

• Ako će najaviti nevrijeme...

This is an important pattern to learn, because it appears very often in Croatian:

• Ako dođe, razgovarat ćemo.
• Ako bude kiša, ostat ćemo doma.
• Ako stignu na vrijeme, počet ćemo odmah.

So the sentence you were given follows a very standard Croatian pattern.