Ljeti radije nosim pamuk nego vunu.

Croatian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb nosim already tells you the subject is I, because it is the 1st person singular form of nositi.

So:

• Nosim = I wear / I carry
• Ja nosim = I wear / I carry, but with extra emphasis on I

You could say Ja ljeti radije nosim pamuk nego vunu, but the ja is usually unnecessary unless you want contrast or emphasis.

Ljeti means in summer or during the summer.

It is a very common seasonal adverb, similar to:

• zimi = in winter
• u proljeće = in spring
• u jesen = in autumn

In this sentence, ljeti sets the time frame for a general habit: what the speaker prefers to wear during summer.

For this kind of general statement, ljeti is the most natural choice.

Usually, for a general meaning like this, ljeti sounds more natural.

So:

• Ljeti radije nosim... = natural, general In summer, I prefer wearing...

Using u ljeto is much less standard in this kind of sentence. A learner should treat ljeti as the normal expression here.

Radije means rather or preferably, and it is used to express preference.

It is the comparative form of rado, which means something like gladly / willingly.

A very useful pattern is:

• radije + verb + A nego B
  = would rather / prefer A than B

So here:

• radije nosim pamuk nego vunu
  = I’d rather wear cotton than wool

You will also see:

• najradije = most gladly / most preferably

Because nego is the normal word for than in this kind of comparison.

The pattern is:

• radije ... nego ... = rather ... than ...

So:

• radije nosim pamuk nego vunu
  = I prefer wearing cotton rather than wool

This is the natural pairing.

Compare:

• Pamuk mi je draži od vune. = Cotton is preferable to me over wool.
• Radije nosim pamuk nego vunu. = I’d rather wear cotton than wool.

So with radije, nego is exactly what you expect.

Nosim is the 1st person singular present tense of nositi.

So:

• ja nosim = I wear / I carry
• ti nosiš = you wear / carry
• on/ona/ono nosi = he/she/it wears / carries

In this sentence, the present tense expresses a general habit or preference, not just something happening right now.

So it means something like:

• In summer, I generally prefer to wear...

That is very normal in Croatian.

Yes. Nositi can mean both, depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• to wear clothing
• to carry something
• sometimes even to bear in other contexts

In this sentence, because the objects are pamuk and vunu and the context is clothing/materials, nositi clearly means to wear.

Both nouns are direct objects of nosim, so they are in the accusative case.

But Croatian nouns change differently depending on gender and type.

pamuk

• dictionary form: pamuk
• gender: masculine, inanimate
• accusative singular: pamuk

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular is usually the same as the nominative.

vuna

• dictionary form: vuna
• gender: feminine
• accusative singular: vunu

For many feminine nouns ending in -a, the accusative singular changes -a to -u.

So:

• pamuk stays pamuk
• vuna becomes vunu

Yes, literally those are the nouns cotton and wool, but Croatian often uses material nouns this way as shorthand for:

• cotton clothes
• wool clothes

So nositi pamuk naturally means to wear cotton or to wear cotton clothing.

English does something similar:

• I wear cotton
• I don’t wear wool

If you wanted to be more explicit in Croatian, you could say something like pamučnu odjeću or vunenu odjeću, but the shorter version in your sentence is perfectly normal.

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

So Croatian simply says:

• nosim pamuk
• nosim vunu

The language relies on context to show whether something is general, specific, or indefinite.

Here, pamuk and vunu are being used in a general material sense, so no extra word is needed.

Not completely. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but different orders change the emphasis.

The given sentence:

• Ljeti radije nosim pamuk nego vunu.

is very natural and neutral.

It starts with Ljeti to set the scene, then radije introduces the preference.

You might also hear variations such as:

• Ja ljeti radije nosim pamuk nego vunu.
• Pamuk ljeti radije nosim nego vunu.

These are possible, but they sound more marked or emphasize different parts of the sentence.

For a learner, the original word order is a very good model.

Yes. That is also correct and natural.

Compare:

• Ljeti radije nosim pamuk nego vunu.
• Ljeti više volim nositi pamuk nego vunu.

The first is a bit more compact and idiomatic with radije.
The second spells out the idea with više volim = I prefer.

Both work, but the original sentence is elegant and very common Croatian style for expressing preference.