Breakdown of Sviđa mi se ova knjiga.
knjiga
book
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
mi
to me
sviđati se
to like (Sviđa mi se)
Questions & Answers about Sviđa mi se ova knjiga.
Where is the word for "I" in this sentence, and what does mi mean?
In Croatian, you don't literally say "I like". Instead, the structure is more like "it is pleasing to me". The word mi is the "to me" part. It is the short form of ja (I) in the dative case, which shows who the book is pleasing to.
If the sentence means "I like", why isn't the verb in the "I" form?
Because the grammar is literally "This book is pleasing to me." The actual subject doing the action in the sentence is ova knjiga (this book). Since the book is a single thing ("it"), the verb sviđa is in the "he/she/it" form.
Why is the word se in this sentence?
The dictionary form of the Croatian verb for "to like" is sviđati se. It is a reflexive verb, which just means it always needs that little word se to be complete. It doesn't translate to anything directly in English here.
Why are mi and se placed right after sviđa?
Both mi and se are special short words called clitics. Croatian has a strict rule that clitics usually must take the second position in a sentence. Here, the verb sviđa is in the first position, so the clitics naturally follow it. When you have both, mi always comes before se.