Pričuva za zgradu je manja nego stanarina, ali ju plaćamo svaki mjesec.

In this context, pričuva means the building reserve fund or maintenance reserve payment for an apartment building.

It is money residents or owners regularly pay for shared building costs, such as:

• repairs
• maintenance
• future renovation work
• common-area expenses

So it is not just any kind of reserve in a general sense; it is a housing-related term.

Za means for, and zgradu is the accusative singular of zgrada meaning building.

So:

• zgrada = building
• za zgradu = for the building

A learner might also hear other ways of expressing this idea, but in this sentence the structure is simply:

• pričuva
  • za zgradu
• reserve fund/payment for the building

Because the preposition za usually takes the accusative case when it means for.

So the noun changes form:

• nominative: zgrada
• accusative: zgradu

This is a very common pattern in Croatian:

• za kuću = for the house
• za posao = for work
• za zgradu = for the building

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

Croatian normally uses biti in sentences like:

• Kuća je velika. = The house is big.
• Auto je skup. = The car is expensive.
• Pričuva je manja. = The reserve payment is smaller.

So je is needed here because the sentence is making a statement with an adjective:

• pričuva = subject
• je = is
• manja = smaller

Because manja has to agree with pričuva, which is a feminine singular noun.

Agreement in Croatian means the adjective must match the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here:

• pričuva = feminine singular
• therefore manja = feminine singular form of smaller

Compare:

• stan je manji = the apartment is smaller
• pričuva je manja = the reserve payment is smaller
• more je manje mirno would use a different form depending on the structure

So the ending -a tells you it matches a feminine singular noun.

Nego means than in comparisons.

So:

• manja nego stanarina = smaller than the rent

This is a standard comparative pattern in Croatian.

A very common alternative is:

• manja od stanarine

That also means smaller than the rent.

So both patterns are possible:

• nego + noun/clause
• od + genitive

In this sentence, the speaker chose nego.

After nego, the noun often stays in its basic form here:

• stanarina

But if you use od, then you need the genitive:

• od stanarine

So compare:

• manja nego stanarina
• manja od stanarine

Both mean the same thing, but the grammar after the comparison word changes.

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

So Croatian simply says:

• zgrada = building / the building
• stanarina = rent / the rent
• mjesec = month / the month

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is why the sentence does not need separate words for the building, the rent, or the month.

Ju is an unstressed pronoun meaning it or her.

Here it refers to pričuva, because pričuva is:

• feminine singular
• the thing being talked about

So:

• ju plaćamo = we pay it

Because pričuva is feminine, the accusative pronoun is ju.

If the pronoun were stressed for emphasis, Croatian would usually use nju instead.

Because ju is a clitic: a short, unstressed word that usually goes near the beginning of the clause.

Croatian clitics often appear in an early position, so:

• ali ju plaćamo svaki mjesec sounds natural and standard

This is one of the things English speakers often need time to get used to, because English normally puts object pronouns after the verb:

• we pay it

Croatian often places these short pronouns earlier:

• ju plaćamo

Plaćamo is the 1st person plural present tense of the imperfective verb plaćati.

It is used because the action is:

• repeated
• habitual
• ongoing

The sentence says this happens every month, so Croatian naturally uses the imperfective verb:

• plaćamo = we pay / we are paying regularly

By contrast, platiti is perfective and usually refers to a completed payment:

• platimo račun = we pay the bill off / complete the payment

So plaćamo svaki mjesec is the correct choice for a regular monthly action.

Svaki mjesec means every month.

Here:

• svaki = every
• mjesec = month

This is a common time expression in Croatian.

It is functioning as an adverbial phrase of time:

• plaćamo svaki mjesec = we pay every month

You may also hear:

• svakog mjeseca

That also means every month. Both are used, and both are natural.

Grammatically, yes, it could, because both pričuva and stanarina are:

• feminine
• singular

But in this sentence, the most natural interpretation is that ju refers to pričuva, because that is the main topic of the first clause:

• Pričuva ... je manja ..., ali ju plaćamo...

So the pronoun normally points back to the main thing being discussed.

If a speaker wanted to avoid ambiguity completely, they could repeat the noun instead of using ju.

This sentence contains both sounds:

• Pričuva has č
• plaćamo has ć

A rough guide for English speakers:

• č is a harder ch sound, somewhat like ch in church
• ć is a softer sound, a bit closer to a softened ty/ch sound, though English does not have an exact match

So:

• Pričuva begins with something like PREE-chu-va
• plaćamo sounds roughly like PLYA-ća-mo, with a softer middle consonant

Many learners find this distinction difficult at first, and that is completely normal.