Ružmarin voli sunce i suhu zemlju.

Because voli takes a direct object, and direct objects go in the accusative case.

The dictionary form is:

• suha zemlja = dry soil / dry earth

But in this sentence, it becomes:

• suhu zemlju = dry soil / dry earth, as the object of voli

Both the adjective and the noun change because they must agree in:

• gender
• number
• case

So:

• suha → suhu
• zemlja → zemlju

Because sunce is a neuter noun, and for many neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative forms are the same.

So:

• sunce = sun
• accusative of sunce = still sunce

That is why you see:

• voli sunce
• but voli suhu zemlju

The two objects are both in the accusative, but they look different because they belong to different noun patterns.

They are both in the accusative case.

In this sentence:

• Ružmarin = subject
• voli = verb
• sunce and suhu zemlju = direct objects

Croatian normally uses the accusative for the thing someone likes, loves, wants, sees, etc.

So the structure is:

• Ružmarin = nominative subject
• voli = 3rd person singular of voljeti
• sunce i suhu zemlju = accusative objects

Because the subject Ružmarin is singular.

The verb voljeti = to love / to like

Present tense:

• ja volim = I like
• ti voliš = you like
• on/ona/ono voli = he/she/it likes
• mi volimo = we like
• vi volite = you (plural/formal) like
• oni/one/ona vole = they like

Since ružmarin is one plant, Croatian uses:

• Ružmarin voli...

It can mean either, depending on context.

In Croatian, voljeti often covers both:

• to love
• to like

In a sentence about plants, voli is usually best understood as:

• likes
• or prefers

So Ružmarin voli sunce i suhu zemlju means something like:

• Rosemary likes sun and dry soil.
• Rosemary prefers sun and dry soil.

Here, zemlja means soil or earth, not country.

Croatian zemlja can mean several things depending on context:

• earth / ground / soil
• land
• country

In a gardening sentence, suha zemlja clearly means:

• dry soil
• dry earth

So this is about the kind of ground rosemary grows well in.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Ružmarin ≈ roozh-mah-reen
• zemlju ≈ ZEM-lyoo

A few important sounds:

• ž sounds like the s in measure
• lj is a single Croatian sound, similar to lli in million for many English speakers
• u is like oo in food

So:

• Ružmarin has ž = zh
• zemlju has lj = a soft ly-like sound

Because Croatian has no articles like English a or the.

So:

• sunce can mean sun or the sun
• zemlja can mean soil, the soil, earth, etc.

The exact meaning comes from context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses:

• the sun
• dry soil

But Croatian does not need a separate word for the.

Yes, Croatian word order is more flexible than English because case endings show grammatical relationships.

The neutral order here is:

• Ružmarin voli sunce i suhu zemlju.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Sunce i suhu zemlju voli ružmarin.
• Ružmarin sunce i suhu zemlju voli.

These are less neutral and may sound more literary or emphatic. For most learners, the original order is the safest and most natural.

Because i simply means and, joining two objects:

• sunce
• suhu zemlju

So:

• sunce i suhu zemlju = sun and dry soil

Croatian does not need to repeat i here, just like English does not repeat and in a simple list of two items.

In this sentence, Ružmarin is the plant rosemary.

As a common noun, it is masculine in Croatian:

• ružmarin

At the beginning of a sentence it is capitalized automatically, so you see Ružmarin.

That capitalization does not mean it is a person’s name here. It is just sentence-initial capitalization.