Djeca su pokisnula na putu kući, ali su se brzo presvukla.

Because djeca is one of those Croatian nouns that refers to people in the plural, but grammatically it takes neuter plural agreement.

So with djeca, you say things like:

• mala djeca
• djeca su došla
• djeca su pokisnula

That is why the past participle is pokisnula / presvukla, not pokisnuli.

If the subject were dječaci instead, you would say dječaci su pokisnuli.

Good question. The form pokisnula can indeed look confusing, because it is identical to the feminine singular form and the neuter plural form.

You know it is plural here because of the rest of the sentence:

• djeca = plural meaning
• su = 3rd person plural auxiliary

So in this sentence, pokisnula is clearly the neuter plural form agreeing with djeca.

The same is true for presvukla.

Su is the 3rd person plural present form of biti = to be.

In Croatian, the usual past tense is built with:

• the auxiliary biti
• plus the l-participle

So:

• su pokisnula = they got soaked / got caught in the rain
• su se presvukla = they changed clothes

This is the normal Croatian perfect tense.

Because the sentence has two coordinated clauses, and each clause has its own verb form:

1. Djeca su pokisnula na putu kući
2. ali su se brzo presvukla

Croatian often omits the repeated subject when it is obvious, but it still keeps the auxiliary that belongs to the second verb.

So English might repeat they, but Croatian more naturally repeats the verbal part instead and leaves the subject understood.

Because the verb here is presvući se, which means to change clothes.

The se is not random; it is part of the verb.

Compare:

• presvući dijete = to change a child’s clothes
• presvući se = to change one’s own clothes

So in this sentence, se is necessary.

Presvući without se is usually transitive: you change, cover, or re-dress something or someone else.

Examples:

• Presvukla je dijete. = She changed the child’s clothes.
• Presvukli su krevet. = They put fresh bedding on the bed.

Presvući se means to change your own clothes.

So in your sentence, because the children changed themselves into dry clothes, Croatian uses presvući se.

Pokisnuti means to get caught in the rain and become wet.

It is more specific than just to get wet. It usually suggests that rain caused it.

So:

• smočiti se = to get wet
• pokisnuti = to get rained on / get soaked by rain

That makes pokisnula na putu kući a very natural choice here.

Na putu kući is a very common Croatian expression meaning on the way home.

Here, kući is a special old directional form meaning home / toward home. Croatian often uses it without a preposition.

Compare:

• ići kući = to go home
• doći kući = to come home
• na putu kući = on the way home

But:

• kod kuće = at home

So:

• kući = motion/direction toward home
• kod kuće = location at home

Putu is locative singular of put.

The phrase na putu means on the way / on the ճանապարհ / during the journey and uses na + locative here because it describes a situation or location, not movement onto something.

So:

• na putu = on the way
• na put would suggest movement onto a road/path, which is not what this sentence means

Because Croatian has special placement rules for short unstressed words called clitics, and su and se are clitics.

These clitics usually come near the beginning of the clause. After ali, it is very natural to place them immediately:

• ali su se brzo presvukla

Then brzo modifies the verb phrase, and presvukla comes after it.

So this word order is neutral and very natural.

Because Croatian often leaves out the subject when it is already clear from context.

In English, you would normally say:

• The children got soaked, but they quickly changed clothes.

In Croatian, once djeca has already been mentioned, the second clause does not need to repeat it:

• Djeca su pokisnula..., ali su se brzo presvukla.

The verb form already tells you it is still talking about the same plural subject.

Yes. Both verbs are perfective, and that matters a lot.

Perfective verbs present an action as a completed whole:

• pokisnuti = to end up rain-soaked
• presvući se = to get changed

That fits the sentence well, because it tells a sequence of completed events:

1. they got wet in the rain
2. then they changed clothes

So the sentence sounds like a clear finished narrative.

The singular is dijete = child.

The plural djeca is irregular, so it is not something you can predict from normal plural patterns.

That is why learners often have to memorize it as a special pair:

• dijete = child
• djeca = children

It is one of the most important irregular noun pairs in Croatian.