Ovaj pulover je od mekane vune, ali ona više voli lagan pamuk.

Because pulover is a masculine singular noun in the nominative case, and ovaj must agree with it.

Agreement here is:

• ovaj = masculine singular
• pulover = masculine singular

Compare:

• ovaj pulover = this sweater
• ova jakna = this jacket
• ovo pismo = this letter

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

So:

• pulover can mean a sweater or the sweater, depending on context
• ovaj pulover already means this sweater, so no article is needed

This is very normal in Croatian and is one of the first things English speakers have to get used to.

The preposition od often means of or made of when talking about material.

So od mekane vune means made of soft wool.

Also, od requires the genitive case, which is why vuna changes form:

• nominative: mekana vuna
• genitive after od: od mekane vune

Because the adjective has to agree with vune in gender, number, and case.

Here:

• vuna is feminine singular
• after od, it becomes genitive singular: vune
• the adjective must match that form: mekane

So:

• mekana vuna = soft wool
• od mekane vune = of/from soft wool

Yes, Croatian often leaves subject pronouns out because the verb already shows the person.

So više voli lagan pamuk can already mean she prefers light cotton.

Adding ona gives extra emphasis or contrast. In this sentence, ali ona feels like but she specifically, which fits the contrast well.

Literally, it means likes more or loves more.

In English, we would usually translate that more naturally as prefers.

So:

• više voli pamuk = she likes cotton more / she prefers cotton

The comparison is understood from context.

Because voljeti takes a direct object in the accusative case, and pamuk is a masculine inanimate noun.

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

So:

• nominative: pamuk
• accusative: pamuk

That is why voli lagan pamuk is correct.

Because pamuk is masculine, so the adjective must also be masculine.

• lagan = masculine singular
• lagana = feminine singular

Since pamuk is masculine, lagana pamuk would be wrong.

Here lagan agrees with pamuk.

Yes, you may sometimes see lagani pamuk as well.

Croatian has both short and long adjective forms in some situations:

• lagan
• lagani

For a beginner, the most important thing is that both are masculine singular forms agreeing with pamuk. In this sentence, lagan pamuk is perfectly natural.

Grammatically, Croatian pronouns can refer back to nouns according to grammatical gender, so in some contexts ona could refer to a feminine noun.

But in this sentence, the meaning and context show that ona means she, not it/the wool.

That is a useful thing to remember in Croatian: pronouns can sometimes look ambiguous until context makes the meaning clear.

Yes. A common alternative would be:

Ovaj pulover je vunen.

That means This sweater is woolen.

The original sentence, od mekane vune, is more descriptive because it explicitly mentions the material and the quality soft. So the original version gives a bit more detail than just vunen.

Not completely. Croatian word order is fairly flexible.

The sentence: Ovaj pulover je od mekane vune, ali ona više voli lagan pamuk.

is a natural, neutral way to say it.

But Croatian could also say:

• Ovaj pulover je od mekane vune, ali više voli lagan pamuk.
• Ali ona više voli lagan pamuk.

The original order is useful because ali ona clearly highlights the contrast: but she prefers something else.