Learn Croatian: Hoćeš li mi posuditi bilježnicu? Vratit ću ti ju. - Will you lend me the notebook? I will return it to you.

Croatian has strict rules for the order of "clitics" (short unstressed words). After the future tense word ću, we have two pronoun clitics. The rule is that the dative pronoun (here, ti meaning 'to you') must always come before the accusative pronoun (here, ju meaning 'it').

Why is the final 'i' missing from Vratit?

When an infinitive verb ending in -ti (like vratiti) comes directly before a future tense clitic (like ću), you must drop the final -i. If the word order were reversed, you would keep it: Ja ću ti ju vratiti.

Why does the second sentence use ju for 'it'?

The pronoun 'it' refers back to bilježnicu (notebook), which is a feminine noun, so we need a feminine pronoun. You probably learned that the short accusative word for 'her/it' is je. However, ju is a common alternative. It's often used to avoid confusion with the verb je (is), and many native speakers use it naturally here.

Does posuditi mean 'to lend' or 'to borrow'?