Sakrit ću čokoladu prije nego što dođu djeca.

This is a standard Croatian future-tense pattern.

The infinitive is sakriti = to hide.
When the future auxiliary ću follows an infinitive ending in -ti, the final -i is dropped:

• sakriti → sakrit ću
• raditi → radit ću
• pisati → pisat ću

So sakrit ću means I will hide.

If the auxiliary comes before the infinitive, the full infinitive stays:

• Ja ću sakriti čokoladu.

Both are correct; the difference is mainly word order.

It is the future I tense.

Here it is made from:

• the infinitive of the main verb: sakriti = to hide
• the clitic form of htjeti = to want, used as a future auxiliary: ću = I will

So:

• sakrit ću = I will hide

The forms of the auxiliary are:

• ću = I will
• ćeš = you will
• će = he/she/it will
• ćemo = we will
• ćete = you will
• će = they will

Because sakriti is perfective. It describes a single completed action: to hide something successfully.

In this sentence, the speaker means one concrete act:

• I’ll hide the chocolate before the children arrive.

That is exactly the kind of situation where Croatian prefers a perfective verb.

An imperfective form like skrivati / sakrivati would suggest an ongoing, repeated, or process-like action, which does not fit as well here.

Because čokoladu is in the accusative case.

The noun is the direct object of sakrit ću:

• Sakrit ću što? → čokoladu
  (What will I hide? → the chocolate)

The basic dictionary form is:

• čokolada = chocolate

But as a direct object in this sentence, it becomes:

• čokoladu

It means before when introducing a full clause.

So:

• prije nego što dođu djeca = before the children arrive

You can think of it as a conjunction that links two actions:

1. Sakrit ću čokoladu = I will hide the chocolate
2. dođu djeca = the children arrive

Together:
I will hide the chocolate before the children arrive.

You may also hear prije nego without što, but prije nego što is very common and natural.

Because after conjunctions like prije nego što, Croatian usually does not use the future auxiliary in the subordinate clause.

Instead, it often uses a present-tense form, especially of a perfective verb, to refer to a future event.

So Croatian says:

• prije nego što dođu djeca

not normally:

• prije nego što će djeca doći

This is a very important difference from English.
English uses before the children arrive, not before the children will arrive—so in that sense the Croatian structure is actually similar.

Because dođu comes from doći, which is perfective, and it refers to a single completed arrival.

• doći = to come, to arrive once
• dolaziti = to be coming / to come repeatedly / habitually

Here the meaning is:

• before the children arrive

That is one specific future event, so dođu is the better choice.

If you used dolaze, it would sound more like a repeated or ongoing action, which is not what this sentence is expressing.

Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order.

Both of these are possible:

• prije nego što djeca dođu
• prije nego što dođu djeca

They both mean the same thing.

The version with the verb first can sound a bit more natural in some contexts, especially in subordinate clauses, or it can slightly shift the rhythm or focus of the sentence. English is much stricter, but Croatian often allows this kind of inversion.

It means children, so its meaning is plural.

The noun is a bit irregular:

• dijete = child
• djeca = children

Even though djeca does not look like a typical plural to an English learner, it takes a plural verb:

• Djeca dolaze. = The children are coming.
• Djeca dođu. = The children arrive / come.

So in this sentence, dođu djeca is grammatically plural.

No. Croatian usually drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form.

• Sakrit ću already tells you it means I will hide
• so ja is unnecessary unless you want emphasis

For example:

• Sakrit ću čokoladu. = I’ll hide the chocolate.
• Ja ću sakriti čokoladu. = I will hide the chocolate.
  This sounds more emphatic, like contrasting I with someone else.

Because Croatian has no articles.

English distinguishes:

• a child
• the child
• children
• the children

Croatian does not use separate words like a or the.
Instead, definiteness is understood from context.

So:

• čokoladu can mean chocolate, the chocolate, or sometimes a chocolate, depending on context
• djeca can mean children or the children

In this sentence, the natural English translation is usually the chocolate and the children, but Croatian does not mark that with articles.

A rough guide:

• ću: something like chyoo, but with a softer ć
• čokoladu: cho-ko-LA-doo
• dođu: roughly DO-joo with a soft đ
• djeca: roughly DYE-tsa

A few useful sound notes:

• č = like ch in church
• ć = a softer version of č
• đ = somewhat like j in George, but softer
• j = like English y

Learners often do not perfectly distinguish č and ć at first, and that is very common.