Čekali smo prilično dugo.

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• čekali = waited
• smo = we are / we have as an auxiliary here; in this sentence it helps form the past tense
• prilično = quite, rather, fairly
• dugo = for a long time / long

So the whole sentence means We waited quite a long time or We waited rather long.

Croatian usually forms this kind of past tense with:

• the past participle: čekali
• the present-tense auxiliary biti (to be): smo

This tense is called the perfect. So čekali smo is the normal Croatian way to say we waited in the past.

Even though it is technically the perfect, in English it is often translated with the simple past, not necessarily we have waited.

Because smo is a clitic: a short unstressed word that normally goes in the second position of the clause.

In this sentence, the first element is čekali, so smo comes right after it:

• Čekali smo prilično dugo.

If you add the subject pronoun, then the pronoun can take first position:

• Mi smo čekali prilično dugo.

Starting a neutral sentence with Smo... is generally not standard.

Croatian often leaves subject pronouns out when they are already clear from the verb form.

Here, smo tells you the subject is we, so mi is unnecessary. Croatian does this very often:

• Čekali smo = We waited

You can say Mi smo čekali if you want emphasis, contrast, or clarity, but it is not required.

The form čekali agrees with the subject in number and, in the past tense, also in gender.

Here it is plural masculine. Croatian uses this form for:

• a group of men
• a mixed group
• a group of unspecified gender

If the speakers were all female, it would be:

• Čekale smo prilično dugo.

So this sentence either refers to a male/mixed group, or uses the masculine plural as the default.

Prilično means quite, rather, or fairly.

So prilično dugo means:

• quite a long time
• rather a long time
• fairly long

It softens the statement a little compared with something stronger like vrlo dugo (very long).

No. Here dugo is an adverb, not an adjective.

It describes how long the waiting lasted:

• čekati dugo = to wait a long time

Compare:

• dug = long as an adjective, for a noun
  
  • dug film = a long film
• dugo = for a long time / long as an adverb
  
  • čekali smo dugo = we waited a long time

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but not completely free.

You can also say, for example:

• Mi smo čekali prilično dugo.
• Prilično smo dugo čekali.
• Dugo smo čekali.

What must be watched carefully is the position of clitics like smo, which usually stay in second position.

So some word orders sound natural, while others do not.

Čekati is the basic imperfective verb meaning to wait.

Sačekati is a perfective verb and often suggests waiting until someone/something arrives or waiting for a specific point to be reached.

So:

• Čekali smo prilično dugo. = a neutral statement about the duration of waiting
• Sačekali smo ga. = We waited for him / We stayed until he came

In this sentence, čekati is the natural choice because the focus is on how long the waiting lasted.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

CHEH-kah-lee smoh pree-LEE-choh DOO-goh

A few helpful notes:

• Č sounds like ch in chocolate
• c and č are different letters in Croatian
• Croatian vowels are usually clear and short: a, e, i, o, u
• lj in prilično is not there here, so pronounce it as pri-li-čno, with č = ch

A more careful approximation would be:

CHE-ka-li smo pri-LI-chno DU-go

Yes, depending on context, Croatian perfect can correspond to different English past forms.

In everyday translation, Čekali smo prilično dugo will usually be rendered as:

• We waited quite a long time

But in the right context, Croatian perfect can overlap with English have waited. English and Croatian do not match one-to-one here, so the best translation depends on the situation.