Personal Pronouns

01

The Subject Pronouns

• singular: ja (I), ti (you), on (he), ona (she), ono (it)
• plural: mi (we), vi (you), oni / one (they, masculine / feminine)

• Ja sam učitelj.

  I am a teacher.

• Ona je studentica.

  She is a student.

• Oni su prijatelji.

  They are friends.

02

They Are Usually Omitted

Since radim already means "I work", you add ja only to stress or contrast.

• Pijem vodu.

  I am drinking water.

• Ja pijem vodu, a ti piješ sok.

  I am drinking water, while you drink juice.

03

Short and Long Object Forms

In the genitive, dative and accusative each pronoun has a short clitic for everyday use and a long stressed form for emphasis or after a preposition. The instrumental has only the long form, because it always follows a preposition.

• ja: gen/acc mene / me, dat meni / mi, instr mnom
• ti: gen/acc tebe / te, dat tebi / ti, instr tobom
• on: gen/acc njega / ga, dat njemu / mu, instr njim

• Vidite li me?

  Do you see me? (short)

• Oni vole mene.

  They love me. (long, stressed)

Both sentences use the accusative of ja. The short me is the everyday one and cannot be stressed; the long mene is what you reach for when the point is that it is me and not someone else.

04

The Clitics Come Second

The short forms are clitics: they cannot start a sentence and sit in second position, clustering with the verb's auxiliaries.

• Volim te.

  I love you.

• Vrati mi ga!

  Give it back to me!

• Već sam ti posudila mobitel.

  I already lent you the phone.

05

After a Preposition

A preposition always takes the long form, never the clitic.

• Kupila sam to za tebe.

  I bought it for you.

• Zabavno je biti s njim.

  It is fun to be with him.

• Govorili su o meni.

  They were talking about me.

06

'we' and 'they'

• mi: gen/acc nas, dat nama / nam, instr nama
• oni: gen/acc njih / ih, dat njima / im

• Volim ih.

  I love them.

• Nazovite nas kad stignete.

  Call us when you arrive.

07

Order Within the Clitic Cluster

When several short words pile up in second position, they keep a fixed order: li first, then auxiliaries such as sam or ću, then the dative, then the accusative.

• Vrati mi ga!

  Give it back to me! (dative mi + accusative ga)

• Dat ću ti ga sutra.

  I will give it to you tomorrow.

08

'it' is on, ona or ono

There is no neutral "it": you choose the pronoun that matches the noun's gender - on for a masculine thing, ona for a feminine one, ono for a neuter one.

• Gdje je radio? On je tamo.

  Where is the radio? It is over there.