Questions & Answers about Nije im žao.
Why do we use im instead of the normal word for "they"?
In Croatian, expressing feelings like being sorry, cold, or warm often uses a different structure than English. Instead of saying "they are sorry", you literally say "it is sorry to them". im is the dative clitic meaning "to them".
If the sentence is about multiple people, why use the singular verb nije instead of the plural nisu?
Because this is an impersonal sentence. The literal translation is "It is not sorry to them." Since the hidden subject is "it", the verb must be the 3rd-person singular nije.
How does the word order work with the clitic im here?
im is a clitic, which means it is a short, unstressed word that naturally goes in the second position of the sentence. The verb nije takes the first spot, so im simply tucks in right behind it.
How would I change this to say "I am not sorry"?
You just swap the dative pronoun im (to them) for mi (to me). The sentence becomes Nije mi žao.
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