Questions & Answers about Ovdje nam je dosadno.
Why do we use nam here instead of the regular word for 'we' (mi)?
In Croatian, feelings and physical states like being bored, cold, or hot are often expressed using the dative case. The literal translation of this sentence is 'Here, to us it is boring.' Because of this, you use the dative pronoun nam ('to us') instead of the subject pronoun mi ('we').
Why is the verb je (is) used when the English translation says 'are'?
This is an impersonal sentence, meaning it doesn't have a specific subject doing an action (similar to 'it is raining' in English). In these types of sentences, Croatian always uses the third-person singular verb je ('is') along with the neuter form of the describing word, which is dosadno.
Why are nam and je placed right after Ovdje?
Both nam and je are clitics, which are short, unstressed words. A major rule in Croatian is that clitics must sit in the second position of the sentence. The word Ovdje (Here) takes up the first position, so the clitics must immediately follow it.
Can I swap the order of the clitics and say Ovdje je nam dosadno?
No, the order of clitics is strictly fixed. When you have multiple clitics together, a dative pronoun like nam must always come before the verb clitic je. As a helpful trick, the clitic je almost always goes at the very end of any group of clitics.