Djeca poslije ručka žele neki slatkiš, ali prvo moraju pojesti juhu.

Djeca is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

A useful thing to know is that dijete means child, and djeca means children. This is not a regular plural pattern, so it is worth memorizing:

• dijete = child
• djeca = children

By contrast, djece is a different case form, not the basic subject form.

Because žele is the 3rd person plural form of željeti = to want.

The subject is djeca = children, so the verb must match a plural subject:

• ja želim = I want
• ti želiš = you want
• on/ona želi = he/she wants
• mi želimo = we want
• vi želite = you plural/formal want
• oni/one/ona žele = they want

So Djeca žele means The children want.

Poslije means after, and it is followed by the genitive case.

So:

• ručak = lunch
• ručka = of lunch / after lunch

That is why the sentence has:

• poslije ručka = after lunch

This is a very common pattern in Croatian:

• poslije škole = after school
• poslije posla = after work
• poslije večere = after dinner

Yes. Nakon ručka also means after lunch and is completely natural.

Both poslije and nakon usually take the genitive:

• poslije ručka
• nakon ručka

In many contexts they are interchangeable. Learners will often hear both.

Neki here means something like some, a certain, or some kind of.

So:

• slatkiš = a sweet, candy, treat
• neki slatkiš = some sweet / some kind of treat

It sounds natural when the speaker is not naming a specific dessert or candy, just something sweet in general.

Grammatically, neki agrees with slatkiš:

• masculine singular
• accusative singular here

Because slatkiš is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form looks the same as the nominative:

• nominative: slatkiš
• accusative: slatkiš

Because slatkiš is the direct object of žele, so it is in the accusative case. But with a masculine inanimate noun, the accusative singular is often identical to the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: slatkiš
• accusative: slatkiš

That is why you do not see a change in form.

Compare this with a masculine animate noun, where you often would see a difference.

Ali means but, and prvo means first.

So:

• ali = but
• prvo = first

Together:

• ali prvo moraju pojesti juhu = but first they have to eat the soup

Prvo is an adverb here. It tells us the order of actions:

1. eat the soup
2. then have the sweet

Because morati means to have to / must, and it is followed by an infinitive.

So:

• moraju = they must / they have to
• pojesti = to eat up / to eat completely

Together:

• moraju pojesti = they have to eat

This is a very common Croatian pattern:

• moram ići = I have to go
• moraju raditi = they have to work
• moramo čekati = we have to wait

This is about aspect, which is very important in Croatian.

• jesti = to eat (imperfective)
• pojesti = to eat up / finish eating (perfective)

In this sentence, pojesti juhu suggests finishing the soup, not just doing some eating in general.

So the meaning is closer to:

• They have to eat the soup first or even
• They have to finish the soup first

That is why pojesti fits well here.

Because juha is the direct object of pojesti, so it must be in the accusative singular.

For many feminine nouns ending in -a, the pattern is:

• nominative singular: juha
• accusative singular: juhu

So:

• juha = soup
• pojesti juhu = to eat the soup

This is a very common feminine accusative pattern:

• voda → vodu
• kava → kavu
• salata → salatu

Not completely. Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings show the grammatical roles.

The given sentence is very natural:

• Djeca poslije ručka žele neki slatkiš, ali prvo moraju pojesti juhu.

But other orders can also work, depending on emphasis. For example:

• Poslije ručka djeca žele neki slatkiš...
• Djeca žele neki slatkiš poslije ručka...

The meaning stays basically the same, but the focus may shift slightly. The original version sounds neutral and natural.

Because ali is a coordinating conjunction meaning but, and Croatian normally uses a comma before it when it links two clauses.

So the sentence is divided into two parts:

• Djeca poslije ručka žele neki slatkiš
• ali prvo moraju pojesti juhu

This is similar to English punctuation with but in many sentences.

Not exactly.

Slatkiš usually means a sweet thing, candy, treat, or something sweet. It is a broad word.

Depending on context, English translations could be:

• a sweet
• a candy
• a treat
• something sweet

If you specifically mean dessert as the course after a meal, Croatian often uses desert.

So in this sentence, neki slatkiš feels more like some sweet treat than the formal meal-course word dessert.