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 the subject pronoun ja (I) 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 (an unstressed word) for everyday use and a long stressed form for emphasis or after a preposition. The instrumental has a single form for each pronoun.

• 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 object pronouns (me, te, ga, mi...) are clitics, unstressed words: they cannot start a sentence and sit in second position, clustering with the verb's auxiliaries such as sam or ću.

• 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, stressed form of a pronoun (tebe, not te), never the short 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 (we) and oni (they) have these object forms, long / short where there are two:

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

• 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.