Labudovo perje izgleda mekše od perja guske, ali ga ne smijemo dirati.

In Croatian, perje is a collective/mass noun. It means feathers or plumage, but grammatically it behaves as singular neuter.

So Croatian says:

• Labudovo perje izgleda mekše... = The swan’s feathers/plumage look softer...

Because perje is singular, the verb is also singular:

• izgleda = looks

not a plural form.

Labudovo means swan’s or belonging to a swan.

It comes from the noun labud = swan, and Croatian often forms a possessive adjective from a noun:

• labudov = a swan’s

Then that adjective must agree with the noun it describes. Since perje is neuter singular, we get:

• masculine: labudov
• feminine: labudova
• neuter: labudovo

So:

• labudovo perje = swan’s feathers / swan plumage

Because mekše is the neuter singular comparative form, and it agrees with perje, which is neuter singular.

Base adjective:

• mek / meka / meko = soft

Comparative:

• masculine: mekši
• feminine: mekša
• neuter: mekše

So:

• perje is neuter singular
• therefore: perje izgleda mekše

Here it means softer.

Although some Croatian forms can look the same as adverbs, in this sentence mekše is an adjective in the comparative, because it describes perje.

So:

• Perje izgleda mekše = The feathers look softer

It is not describing how something looks in an adverbial sense; it is describing what the feathers are like.

Yes. In comparisons, Croatian uses od to express than.

So:

• mekše od... = softer than...

This same od also has other meanings in other contexts, such as from, but here it is the comparison word.

Both are in the genitive.

That happens because:

1. od requires the genitive
2. guske depends on perja and shows possession: the feathers of a goose

So:

• perje = nominative singular
• perja = genitive singular
• guska = nominative singular
• guske = genitive singular

Literal structure:

• od perja guske = than the feathers of a goose

Very natural English would usually say than goose feathers or than a goose’s feathers.

It is repeated because the sentence compares one kind of feathers with another kind of feathers:

• Labudovo perje = swan feathers
• perja guske = a goose’s feathers

Croatian often keeps the noun if it helps make the comparison clear.

You could sometimes rephrase things differently, but this version is perfectly normal and clear. The repetition is not strange in Croatian.

Because ga is the short accusative form of the pronoun used for masculine and neuter singular nouns.

So although perje is neuter, its object pronoun can be:

• ga = it

In this sentence:

• ali ga ne smijemo dirati = but we must not touch it

Here ga refers back to perje.

Because ga is a clitic, and Croatian clitics usually go in the second position in the clause.

In the clause:

• ali ga ne smijemo dirati

the first element is ali, and the clitic ga comes right after it.

This kind of placement is very common in Croatian. English speakers often expect pronouns to stay near the verb, but Croatian clitic placement follows its own rules.

Here it means we mustn’t or we are not allowed to.

The verb is smjeti = to be allowed to / may.

So:

• smijemo = we may / we are allowed to
• ne smijemo = we may not / we must not

That is different from:

• ne možemo = we cannot / we are unable to

So this sentence is about permission or prohibition, not ability.

Dirati is imperfective, and it is often used for a general action like touching.

In negative rules or prohibitions, Croatian very often prefers the imperfective:

• Ne smijemo dirati = We must not touch it

That means we must not engage in that action at all.

A perfective verb such as dotaknuti would focus more on a single completed touch. The imperfective sounds more natural for a general prohibition.

It can mean both, depending on context.

• izgledati can mean to look
• it can also mean to seem / appear

In this sentence, izgleda mekše could be understood as:

• looks softer
• seems softer

English usually chooses whichever sounds more natural in context.

In this sentence, guske is best understood as genitive singular: of a goose.

That is because it follows perja:

• perja guske = the feathers of a goose

The form guske can also be nominative plural or accusative plural in other contexts, so the form itself is ambiguous. But here the grammar makes the meaning clear.

Most likely many feathers / plumage, not one single feather.

Even though perje is grammatically singular, it usually refers to:

• feathers collectively
• plumage

If Croatian wanted to emphasize a single feather, it would normally use:

• pero = feather

So:

• perje = feather covering / feathers as a mass
• pero = one feather