Stavi jastuk na krevet, molim te.

Stavi is the singular imperative form of staviti, which means to put / to place.

So Stavi jastuk na krevet means Put the pillow on the bed when speaking to one person informally.

A useful comparison:

• stavi = put it / place it (command to one person)
• stavite = command to more than one person or to one person formally

Because this is a command, Croatian does not need to say the subject you explicitly.

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

• staviti is perfective
• stavljati is imperfective

The imperative stavi usually tells someone to do a single, completed action: Put the pillow on the bed.

The form stavljaj would sound more like:

• keep putting
• be putting
• put repeatedly / habitually

In this sentence, the speaker wants one finished result, so stavi is the natural choice.

Jastuk is the direct object of the sentence, so it is in the accusative case.

However, jastuk is a masculine inanimate noun, and for many masculine inanimate nouns in Croatian, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: jastuk
• accusative: jastuk

Even though the form looks unchanged, the grammatical role is different.

This is a very common question because na can go with different cases depending on meaning.

Here, na krevet uses the accusative because it shows movement toward a destination: the pillow is being moved onto the bed.

Compare:

• na krevet = onto the bed / movement
• na krevetu = on the bed / location

So:

• Stavi jastuk na krevet. = Put the pillow onto the bed.
• Jastuk je na krevetu. = The pillow is on the bed.

For the same reason as jastuk: krevet is also a masculine inanimate noun.

After na with movement, it should be in the accusative singular, but for masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative often looks the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: krevet
• accusative: krevet
• locative: krevetu

That is why you get:

• na krevet = onto the bed
• na krevetu = on the bed

Molim te softens the command and makes it sound more polite, like:

• please
• please, I’m asking you

Literally, it is related to the verb moliti = to ask / to beg.

In everyday Croatian, molim te is a very common informal way to say please to one person.

So the whole sentence is not a harsh order; it sounds more like a polite request.

Because te is the correct pronoun form here.

• ti = nominative (you as subject)
• te = accusative (you as object)

The verb moliti takes an object, so in molim te, the pronoun must be in the accusative.

So literally, it is something like I ask you.

This expression is fixed and very common, so learners should memorize molim te as the normal informal please.

Yes. Croatian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The most neutral order here is:

• Stavi jastuk na krevet, molim te.

But you may also hear:

• Molim te, stavi jastuk na krevet.
• Jastuk stavi na krevet, molim te.

The meaning stays basically the same, but the emphasis can shift slightly.

For example:

• Molim te at the beginning can make the request sound softer right away.
• Jastuk at the beginning may emphasize the pillow specifically.

Yes, but that is normal in Croatian.

The verb form itself already shows that the speaker is talking to one person and giving a command:

• stavi = you, put

Because the person is clear from the verb ending, Croatian usually leaves the subject pronoun out.

If you added ti, it would usually be for extra emphasis:

• Ti stavi jastuk na krevet.

That might sound like You put the pillow on the bed as opposed to someone else.

You would use stavite instead of stavi.

So:

• Stavi jastuk na krevet, molim te. = to one person informally
• Stavite jastuk na krevet, molim vas. = to one person formally, or to several people

Also notice the polite phrase changes:

• molim te = informal singular
• molim vas = formal singular or plural

This is a very useful pattern to learn.

Actually, molim does not contain lj. It is pronounced with a normal l sound:

• mo-lim

But Croatian does have the special sound lj in words like:

• ljubav
• bolji

In this sentence, the sounds learners often focus on are:

• j in jastuk, which is pronounced like English y in yes
• te, which has a clear short e
• krevet, where all vowels are pronounced clearly

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Stavi jastuk na krevet, molim te
• STAH-vee YAH-stook nah KREH-vet MOH-leem teh

That is only approximate, but it can help at first.