When evaluating a project, debating an argument, or writing a professional review, you need to clearly state whose viewpoint is being expressed. In English, we typically use phrases like "according to" or "in my opinion."
In Croatian, there are two common ways to attribute an opinion or interpretation: using the preposition prema or the preposition po.
According to: Prema + Dative
The preposition prema translates to "according to." Whenever you use prema to express the source of an opinion or standard, it must be followed by the dative case.
Many words related to thoughts and perspectives—such as a viewpoint (gledište), an interpretation (tumačenje), or a belief (uvjerenje)—are neuter nouns. In the dative case, these neuter nouns take the ending -u. Possessive adjectives and pronouns preceding them will take -om or -em (e.g., mom, njegovom).
| According to my viewpoint, this review is subjective. | Prema mom gledištu, ova kritika je subjektivna. |
| According to his interpretation, the expert is not objective. | Prema njegovom tumačenju, stručnjak nije objektivan. |
This structure perfectly applies to masculine nouns as well, such as a criterion (kriterij).
| According to this criterion, we can evaluate the results. | Prema ovom kriteriju možemo procijeniti rezultate. |
In one's view: Po + Locative
Another highly common way to frame an opinion is with the preposition po, which in this context means "in" or "by" (as in "in my understanding" or "in my opinion"). The preposition po requires the locative case.
Conveniently, for masculine and neuter nouns, the locative case endings are completely identical to the dative case endings. You will still use the -u ending for the noun and -om or -em for the modifier.
| In my understanding, that argument is not convincing. | Po mom shvaćanju, taj argument nije uvjerljiv. |
| In my opinion, your attitude is based on a mistake. | Po mom mišljenju, tvoj stav se temelji na pogrešci. |
Debating Viewpoints
Once you are comfortable with prema and po, you can easily use them to contrast different perspectives, weigh arguments, and discuss whether an assessment is objective (objektivan) or subjective (subjektivan).
| In her opinion, the report is objective, but I think that it is subjective. | Po njezinom mišljenju, izvještaj je objektivan, ali ja mislim da je subjektivan. |
| According to their interpretation, that criterion depends on the viewpoint. | Prema njihovom tumačenju, taj kriterij ovisi o gledištu. |
