Questions & Answers about Brat i sestra se puno vole.
Doesn't se normally mean "oneself"? Why does it mean "each other" here?
You are right that se is a reflexive pronoun often meaning "oneself" (like in zovem se, meaning "I call myself"). However, Croatian also uses se for reciprocal actions—things multiple people do to one another. Because we have two subjects here (brat i sestra), se vole translates to "they love each other."
Why is se placed right after sestra instead of earlier in the sentence?
The word se is an enclitic, meaning it is a weak word that naturally falls into the second position of a sentence. In this case, the entire subject phrase Brat i sestra acts together as the first "block" of information, so se takes the spot immediately after that whole phrase.
Since brat is masculine and sestra is feminine, what gender is the verb vole?
Trick question! In the present tense, Croatian verbs do not change based on gender. The verb vole is simply the "they" form (third-person plural) of voljeti. You only need to worry about mixing genders when forming the past tense, where the masculine plural form "wins" as the default.
Could I use the word jako instead of puno in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Both puno and jako are very common ways to say "a lot" or "very much" when describing the intensity of a feeling or action. Native speakers use them interchangeably in a sentence like this.