Learn Croatian: Ja sam se stvarno uplašio.

Croatian has a strict order for its short, unstressed words (clitics). When you have both a verb clitic like sam and the reflexive clitic se, the verb clitic always comes first. They both sit together in the second position of the sentence, right after the first word (Ja).

Why do we need the word se in this sentence?

The verb uplašiti se means to get scared, but it acts like a reflexive verb literally meaning to scare oneself. If you leave out se, the verb just means to scare someone else.

Does the word uplašio change if a woman is speaking?

Yes! The past tense in Croatian must match the gender of the subject. Because uplašio ends in -o, it tells us a man is speaking. A woman would change the ending and say Ja sam se stvarno uplašila.

If I drop the word Ja, where do sam and se go?

If you drop the pronoun Ja, the clitics sam and se still need to be in the second position of the sentence. They will slide right behind the new first word. For example, you could say Stvarno sam se uplašio. Notice that sam and se stay glued together in the exact same order!