Za dva noćenja u jednokrevetnoj sobi platila sam manje nego prošle godine za jedno noćenje u centru.

Because the speaker is female.

In the Croatian past tense, the l-participle agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• platio sam = I paid (male speaker)
• platila sam = I paid (female speaker)

The auxiliary sam means am/have in this past-tense construction, and platila carries the gender information.

Croatian often leaves out the pronoun ja (I) because the verb form already makes the person clear.

Here za means for, in the sense of in exchange for / as the price for something.

So:

• za dva noćenja = for two overnight stays / for two nights

This is very common with prices and payments:

• Platio sam 50 eura za sobu. = I paid 50 euros for the room.
• Koliko si platio za kartu? = How much did you pay for the ticket?

So the sentence is literally structured like:

• For two nights in a single room, I paid less...

There are two things going on here.

1. Noćenje is a neuter noun.

   • singular: noćenje
   • so with two, the numeral is dva, not dvije

2. After dva / dvije, tri, četiri, Croatian uses a special counting form of the noun. With noćenje, that form is noćenja:

• jedno noćenje = one night
• dva noćenja = two nights
• tri noćenja = three nights
• četiri noćenja = four nights

So dva noćenja is the correct form.

A useful note:

• dva is used with masculine and neuter nouns
• dvije is used with feminine nouns

For example:

• dva hotela = two hotels
• dva noćenja = two stays/nights
• dvije sobe = two rooms

Not quite.

• noć = night in the general sense
• noćenje = an overnight stay, especially in hotel/travel language

In hotel contexts, noćenje is the natural word for what you pay for.

So:

• dva noćenja u hotelu = two nights / two overnight stays in a hotel

If you said dvije noći, that can also mean two nights, but noćenje sounds more specifically like a booked accommodation stay.

That is why this sentence uses noćenje/noćenja rather than noć/noći.

It is locative, because u means in here and expresses location.

• soba = room
• u sobi = in the room

Since soba is feminine singular, the adjective must match it:

• jednokrevetna soba = a single room
• u jednokrevetnoj sobi = in a single room

So both words are in the locative singular feminine:

• jednokrevetnoj
• sobi

This is a standard pattern:

• u velikoj kući = in a big house
• u maloj sobi = in a small room

Jednokrevetan / jednokrevetna / jednokrevetno means single-room / single-bed, and in hotel language it means single room.

It is built from:

• jedno- = one
• krevet = bed

So literally it means something like one-bed room.

The basic dictionary form here is:

• jednokrevetna soba = single room

In the sentence, it becomes jednokrevetnoj because it has to agree with sobi in case, gender, and number.

Because manje nego is the normal way to say less than in comparisons.

• manje = less
• nego = than

So:

• platila sam manje nego prošle godine = I paid less than last year

This works like:

• veći nego = bigger than
• bolji nego = better than
• manje nego = less than

You may also sometimes see od in comparisons, but with a whole comparison phrase like this, nego is very natural and common.

Prošle godine is the normal idiomatic way to say last year.

It is a genitive time expression:

• prošla godina = last year, as the subject or dictionary form
• prošle godine = last year, when talking about time
• prošlu godinu = the last year, as a direct object in some other sentence

So in this sentence:

• nego prošle godine = than last year

This same pattern appears in many time expressions:

• ovog tjedna = this week
• prošlog mjeseca = last month
• iduće godine = next year

So prošle godine is not random; it is a very common Croatian way of expressing time.

Because the speaker is comparing two prices, and Croatian keeps the for phrase explicit in both parts.

The comparison is:

• now: za dva noćenja = for two nights
• last year: za jedno noćenje = for one night

So the sentence means:

• I paid less for two nights ... than last year for one night ...

Repeating za makes the comparison clear and balanced. Croatian often does this where English might also repeat for.

Because noćenje is a neuter singular noun.

The numeral one changes by gender:

• jedan for masculine
• jedna for feminine
• jedno for neuter

Since noćenje is neuter, you get:

• jedno noćenje = one overnight stay

Compare:

• jedan hotel
• jedna soba
• jedno noćenje

Because u here again means in, expressing location, so it takes the locative.

The noun is:

• centar = center

In the locative singular:

• u centru = in the center

So:

• za jedno noćenje u centru = for one night in the center

In context, this usually means in the city center.

Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but different orders sound more or less neutral or more emphatic.

This version:

• platila sam manje

is a natural, neutral way to say I paid less.

You could also hear:

• manje sam platila
• za dva noćenja sam platila manje

These are possible, but they shift the emphasis a bit.

The given sentence sounds smooth and standard, especially in written or careful spoken Croatian.

Because Croatian does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So:

• u jednokrevetnoj sobi can mean in a single room or in the single room, depending on context
• u centru can mean in the center

Croatian relies on context, word order, and sometimes adjectives or pronouns to make things definite or indefinite.

That is one of the big differences from English.