Arguments and Placing Blame
To learn how to use emphatic pronouns, we will look at the vocabulary of a heated argument (svađa).
When things go wrong, people naturally want to know who is responsible or who they should blame (kriviti).
Full Pronouns for Emphasis and Contrast
Normally, you use short, unstressed pronouns (like me, te, or ga). However, if you want to emphasize exactly who is to blame or express a strong contrast ("not you, but me!"), you must use the full, emphatic form of the pronoun.
For "me", the full form for both the Accusative and Genitive cases is mene.
There is another strict rule in Croatian: you must always use these full forms after prepositions. Short pronouns are never allowed to follow words like u (in/at), na (on/at), or protiv (against).
For "you" (singular), the emphatic form is tebe. Notice how full forms are perfect for contrasting two people in the same sentence.
Emphatic Third-Person Pronouns
For "him" or "it", the emphatic Accusative and Genitive form is njega.
For "her", the emphatic Genitive form is nje. Prepositions like bez (without) and protiv (against) always require the Genitive case.
For "them", the emphatic form is njih.
Prepositions "umjesto" and "osim"
Two very useful prepositions during a dispute are umjesto (instead of) and osim (except). Both of these require the Genitive case, which means they are always followed by the full pronoun forms.
Finally, here is a sentence that brings together the vocabulary of blame with multiple emphatic pronouns at once: