Learn Croatian: Bojim se mraka. - I am afraid of the dark.

The word se is a clitic, which means it is a short word without its own stress. In Croatian, clitics must always go in the second position of a sentence. Since Bojim is the first word, se naturally takes the second spot.

What happens to the word order if I include the word for 'I' (ja)?

If you start the sentence with Ja, the clitic se still needs to be in the second position. The sentence becomes Ja se bojim mraka. Notice how se jumps in front of bojim to keep its strict second-place rule!

Why is there no word for 'of' in the Croatian sentence?

In English, we say we are afraid 'of' something. In Croatian, the verb bojati se (to be afraid) directly takes a noun in the genitive case. The case ending on the noun does the job of showing the relationship, so no extra preposition is needed.

Why is the word for dark mraka instead of mrak?

The basic dictionary form is mrak. Because it follows bojati se, it must change into the genitive case. For regular masculine nouns like mrak, the genitive case is formed by simply adding the ending -a, making it mraka.