Learn Croatian: Danas sam se kasno probudio.

The Croatian verb for "to wake up" is probuditi se. It is a reflexive verb, meaning it describes an action you do to yourself (literally "to wake oneself"). If you just used probudio without se, it would mean you woke someone else up!

Why are "sam" and "se" placed right after "Danas"?

Both sam and se are enclitics. These are short, unstressed words that strictly belong in the second position of a sentence. Since Danas (Today) takes the first spot, the enclitics must come right after it.

Why is the order "sam se" and not "se sam"?

Croatian has strict rules for the order of enclitics when there is more than one in a sentence. Verbal enclitics like the helping verb sam almost always come before pronoun enclitics like the reflexive se.

How would this sentence change if a woman was speaking?

A woman would say Danas sam se kasno probudila. In the Croatian past tense, the main verb changes based on the gender of the speaker. The -o ending in probudio tells us it is a masculine speaker, while -a is used for a feminine speaker.

Where is the word for "I" in this sentence?